Congresswomen protest the outdated House dress code by 'baring arms'
Congresswomen are protesting for their right to "bare arms" -- literally.
On Friday, dozens of House Democrats wore sleeveless clothing and posed for photos to mark the occasion, which has been labelled "Sleeveless Friday."
The dress initiative was the brainchild of Rep. Jackie Speier (D- Calif.), and was meant as an act solidarity with female reporters who have been kicked out of Speaker Paul Ryan's lobby for wearing sleeveless dresses.
Because you know, it's not like summer in Washington D.C. is hot or anything.
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The dress code bans "shoulder bearing." Earlier this month, one reporter who was removed from the Speaker's lobby for wearing (gasp) a sleeveless dress, even tried to stuff ripped notebook pages into her shoulder openings as sleeves, but it did not work.
Ugh. As it stands, the official House dress code simply requires women to dress in "appropriate attire," whatever that means.
Speier and many of her female colleagues took these photos together on the East Capitol steps, to show that shoulder-bearing does not "inappropriate" make:
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Ryan reportedly announced on Thursday that he and the House Sergeant at Arms will work to update the dress code for the House chamber and the Speaker's lobby, so at least there's some good news.
We can only hope an updated dress code will be less restricting than its current version.
Maggie was a Real Time News Intern in Mashable's Los Angeles office. She is originally from the suburbs of Chicago, and she is currently studying journalism at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She previously freelanced for the Chicago Tribune, and enjoys petting dogs and drawing pictures in her spare time.
