Two teenage girls were barred from boarding a United Airlines flight on Sunday after a gate agent decided that their leggings did not meet the required dress code. Despite the ensuing backlash, United Airlines has defended its actions by citing a specific dress code that applied only to “pass riders” – passengers flying with discounted tickets on behalf of family and friends who work for the airline company. The company’s refusal to acknowledge the wider implications of regulating the dress of two young girls, in spite of their status as pass riders, highlights a recurring passivity for dress codes that generally target women and the burdensome self-awareness that these actions impose.

United’s explicit pass rider dress code bans clothing items such as “form-fitting lycra/spandex tops, pants and dresses,” “any attire that reveals a midriff,” “mini skirts,” “bare feet” and several others. While the dress code is not overtly sexist, the clothing items listed are typically marketed in the fashion industry — an industry that has generally remained within the gender binary —  as women-specific clothing. The girls’ father, on the other hand, was able to board the plane in shorts, which some could argue are equally unprofessional garments. By banning more objects typically worn by women than those typically worn by men, the airline has enforced a gendered policy that inhibits women’s freedom of dress, regardless if it was inadvertent.

The airline has claimed there is a need for this dress code because pass riders represent the company and must dress accordingly. But it is clear from the confusion amongst fellow passengers and witnesses following the incident that the girls’ status as pass riders was initially not public information. This begs the question of how these riders represent the airline when no one even knows that they’re flying as representatives. Further, how can two teenage girls be expected to uphold the public professionalism of an airline company that they don’t even work for? Airlines like American and Delta have maintained their professional images despite having much more lenient and open-ended dress codes for pass riders — they leave the decision on what is appropriate attire to the passengers and gate-keepers.

Most female college students can attest to adhering to a high school dress code that primarily targeted women. Policies like these and the United Airlines are often grounded in faulty reasoning — like it may distract the male students or that pass riders represent the company — and inevitably pressure women to patrol their own dress under the gaze of a larger authority figure. As many of us are to work within the professional world in the near future — if we don’t already — it becomes extremely important to recognize and counter these policies that impose an unnecessary amount of vigilance centered on a woman’s body and only further the burdens of gender norms.

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Email Emma Rudd at [email protected].