Hagerty High student pushing for gender equality with Seminole County school dress code

SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. - Hagerty High School senior Julia Squiterri is pushing for change in the Seminole County School District. 

She says some current dress code policies unfairly target female students. 

"I don’t think that feminine students should have to think about their bodies while they’re trying to learn. At the end of the day all students are coming in to learn," Squitteri told FOX 35 News. 

Things like halter tops, spaghetti straps and tank tops – clothing you find in the women's sections when shopping, are considered dress code violations. 

Consequences for an infraction include verbal warnings and in-school suspension, according to the district's code of conduct guide. 

"It’s almost this kind of shock feeling at first. You feel really uncomfortable. We collected testimonies from  40-50 students in Seminole County and that was a word that kept popping up over and over," Squitteri said.

Squitteri is part of the district's dress code committee and is also founder of "The Ruth Project," which fights for gender equality.

So far, she's already helped get the word ‘cleavage’ removed from the district's dress code guide. 

Now she's lobbying for more revisions. 

"What happens when it’s enforced is those feminine students are going to miss class time, while their male peers sit in class and continue learning. That in itself is just plain inequity," Squitteri said. 

FOX 35 reached out to the Seminole County School District, but they were not available for comment. 

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