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Israel's Knesset bans mini-skirts in new dress code

The Knesset has published a dress code instructing elected officials and staff to avoid casual attire.
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Last September, Minister of Welfare Haim Katz appeared at the government’s weekly meeting in a short-sleeved striped polo shirt. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent him away to change his shirt, saying that his dress didn't show respect for the occasion. Katz went to his car and returned with a button-down shirt. We should recall this anecdote in view of the attempts to veer the discussion over the publication of the Knesset’s new dress code on March 9 to the gender arena.

“This code, which of course is relevant only to women, anchors the male gaze that determines how a woman should dress and how she should look,” member of Knesset Tamar Zandberg of Meretz told Israeli media in response to the new rules. She is convinced that “a mechanism of warnings will only bring more looks inspecting and measuring the length of the skirt, that is, it will be part of the job of the Knesset stewards to check the clothes of every woman who enters the Knesset. This dress code is unnecessary and insulting.”

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