A Study of Gender Equality in terms of School

Dress Code among Senior High School Students in

Our Lady of Fatima University

A Research Project

Presented to the

Faculty of the Senior High School

Our Lady of Fatima University

In Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for

Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS)

Strand

by

Briones, Rozen M.

Busiguen, Denice June B.

Desales, Prences Earlyn E.

Rolda, Princess Anne P.

Villafania, Jhona Mae F.

December 2020
 ii

Certificate of Originality

I hereby certify that this is an original work done by the

authors, the intellectual content of this study is originally written and
the product of own work. Any help received in the research work and
the preparation of the thesis itself has been acknowledged, all of the
information sources and the literature used are indicated in the
study.

Rozen M. Briones
Researcher

Denice JuneB. Busiguen

Researcher

Prences EarlynE. Desales

Researcher

Princess Anne P. Rolda

Researcher

Jhona Mae F. Villafania

Researcher

Attested by:

Janica Shawn A. Montoya

Research Adviser
 iii

December7, 2020

Acknowledgements

First and foremost, praises and gratitude to our Almighty God,

for His showers of blessings, strength, and peace of mind, throughout

the research work as we were able to finish it successfully. His grace

has driven them to accomplish this study.

This work would not have been possible without the support and

guidance from our research adviser. We would like to thankMs.

Montoya for not only her advice and direction as our research advisor

but also a mentor. It is because of her, we are able to complete our

study on time, for sharing her pearls of wisdom with us during the

course of this research. It was a great privilege and honor to work

and study under her guidance.

The researchers would also like to give their gratitude to the

parents for their love, caring, sacrifices, and utmost support for the

education and to the respondents who actively participated in the

study, without them, the researchers were unable to come up with the

data.

Last but not the least, we are very much thankful to our friends and

colleagues for their love, encouragement, insightful comments, and

continuing support to complete this research work, heartfelt thanks.

 iv

Abstract

Clothing plays an important role in society and serves as a sign

of social status and identity. It is present in every life occasions and

different professionals and nonprofessionals including minor non-

workers like students have on-going debates on whether school dress

code policies need to be revised because of its untimeliness on

student's welfare or not. Students were prevented from wearing

clothes that were thought to be from another gender and that their

way of dress must be designated according to their legal sex. Dress

codes—given the power they entrust school authorities to regulate

student identity—can, according to students, ultimately establish

discriminatory standards as the norm.This research will be a help to

give a better understanding of Gender Equality among Senior High

School students in the aspect of school dress code, stating the positive

and negative effects in a manner that is fair for both sides. This study

provides a widened perspective on policies to promote and practice the

students' rights as humans. Questionnaires and survey forms will

serve as data for the researchers. It will be disseminated to the Senior

High School students of Our Lady of Fatima University. The data

 v

gathered are to be analyzed by the researchers to correlate the

findings to the objectives of the study.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PRELIMINARIES..........................................................................i

Title Page.........................................................................................i

Certificate of Originality...................................................................ii

Acknowledgements.........................................................................iii

Abstract..........................................................................................iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS.....................................................................v

List of Figures...............................................................................viii

List of Tables...................................................................................x

List of Appendices..........................................................................xi

CHAPTER 1.................................................................................1

The Problem and Its Background.................................................1

Introduction....................................................................................1

Background of the Study.................................................................1

Statement of the Problem................................................................1

Objectives of the Study....................................................................2

 vi

Scope and Limitation.......................................................................3

Scope of the study...........................................................................................3

Limitations of the study.................................................................................4

Significance of the Study.................................................................4

Definition of Terms..........................................................................5

CHAPTER 2.................................................................................7

Review of Related Literature and Studies....................................7

Technical Background.....................................................................7

Related Literature............................................................................7

CHAPTER 3.................................................................................9

Project Methodology...................................................................9

Project Design.................................................................................9

Project Locale................................................................................12

Project Instruments.......................................................................13

Data Collection Process.................................................................13

Data Analysis................................................................................14

Research Method...........................................................................17

Statistical Tools.............................................................................17

CURRICULUM VITAE.................................................................24
 vii

List of Appendices

APPENDICES.............................................................................21

APPENDIX A.....................................................................................22

Gantt chart of Activities.......................................................................................22

 viii

CHAPTER 1

The Problem and Its Background

Introduction
 ix

Background of the Study

School dress codes are designed to make the educational

environment useful for learning. But somehow, an unpleasant event

occurs. The discriminatory experiences students experience tends to

rob learner’s confidence and inspire them to see themselves in the

wrong way. There have been controversies over the effectiveness of

school uniforms, as well as on how and when school uniform policies

should be implemented. Some argue that a student's right to free

speech and expression may be violated by school uniforms, others

argue that it will not decrease the distinction between students.

Clothing is gender-specific and the two options, male or female, are

usually imposed on students by the sex assigned to them at birth. In

recent years, lawmakers and school administrators in the Philippines

have acknowledged that the abuse of gender youth is a serious issue,

their experience in school is afflicted by discrimination and bullying.

According to Ryan Thoreson (2017), schools impose rigid gender

norms on students in a variety of ways—for example, through

gendered uniforms or dress codes, restrictions on hair length, classes,

and activities that differ for boys and girls. Schools should be safe

places for everyone, but students who are part of the LGBTQ+
 x

community find that their experience in school is ruined by bullying

because of a lack of information about gender equality in dress code.

The stimulus in all cases of disruption is women and their

bodies, according to the general notion. This idea adversely affects

women and those who belong to the LGBTQIA+ community. Filipinos

are known to be tradition-based and somehow not welcoming of

change in cultures, new genders have aroused and the older

generation fails to understand new genders. They tend to discriminate

against others’ clothing preferences because they aren’t used to it.

Women are not the only ones who are victimized by these school dress

codes alone. It also includes those who are part of the LGBTQ+

community, a newly discovered gender identity. Even though

LGBTQIA+ is somehow accepted in our society, they still experience

discrimination in some things like in the dress code at school.

According to Florian Booneiam (2019), To strip society of the unfair

treatment to which certain people are subjected, a gender-neutral

environment must come into being. Disproportionate approaches

should be dismantled, and, in their place, an inclusive attitude must

be fostered in the instructors, staff, and other administrators of

academic establishments.
 xi

Statement of the Problem

As new genders are being discovered day-by-day, these genders

are more complicated than the first ones. Most people, especially of

the older generation, fail to understand and learn these genders

because they aren’t used to it. Filipinos are known to be tradition-

based and somehow not welcoming of change in cultures. As different

ways of education are being innovated, the marginalized are not

privileged enough to have quality education and technology. There are

teachers and school administrators who implement strict school dress

codes and find these cultural changes wrong and tend to discriminate

and abuse students who have opposite-sex clothing preferences.

Objectives of the Study

The main focus of this study is to ask students regarding the school

dress code of Our Lady of Fatima University.

Specifically, the study aims:

1. To know if the students are aware and in favor with the

school’s policy regarding dress code.

2. To determine if some of the students are

experienceddiscrimination on their clothing preference.

 xii

3. To know if the dress code affects the freedom of expression

and rights of the students.

4. To know the perspective of students regarding with the

cross-dressing of different gender identities.

5. To know the insights and opinions of the students if they are

in favor and acknowledging the possible revision of the

school policy in regards with the study.

Scope and Limitation

The focus of this quantitative study are students of Our Lady of

Fatima University (Antipolo Campus) who are part or not of LGBTQ+

community, and other students who are limited to participate in the

quantitative study but there was no control of participation.

Scope of the study

● Student in terms of:

o School Dress Code

o Gender Equality

Limitations of the study

● Students who are not Senior High School.

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Significance of the Study

The discussion of the significance of a study for SchoolDress

Code and individual beneficiaries are the following:

Grade Eleven students: They are the new comers in the University.

Being the new comers, we would like to know what they want and

expect with regards to the dress code.

Grade Twelve Students: They already experienced following the dress

code for almost 2 years. We want to know what they’ve experienced

and struggle following the dress code. Also, what are their opinions

and suggestions to improve the dress code in Our Lady of Fatima

University to achievefairness.

School.They can make alternative action towards the students’

concern. They will know the students’ perception regarding the policy

of school dress code.

Students and Older generation. They will understand how it is

important to be aware of the stigma among gender-based abuses and

 xiv

discrimination and how beneficial it is for an individual to be free of

choosing their own clothing preference.

Teachers and Facilitators. They will benefit from the study as they

are the ones to lead and guide the students to understand and learn

more about this matter.

In the control group, we are aiming for 30 participants.

Definition of Terms

The following terms are defined to clarify unknown words:

Gender Equality - The concept that women and men, girls and boys
have equal conditions, treatment andopportunities for realizing their
full potential,human rights and dignity, and for contributing to(and
benefitting from) economic, social, culturaland political development.

Gender - Refers to the social and cultural classification between

masculine andfeminine (Delphy, 1993)

Sex - Refers to the biological differences between female and male—

genitaliaand reproductive function (Delphy, 1993).

Gender Roles - Society’s expectations of how females and males

shouldbehave (Schafer, 2010).

Gender norms - Accepted attributes and characteristics of male

and female gendered identity at a particular pointin time for a specific
society or community, ideas about how men and women should be
and act.

Dress code - a set of rules specifying the correct manner of dress

while on the premises of the institution (or specifying what manner of
dress is prohibited).
 xv

CHAPTER 2

Review of Related Literature and Studies

 xvi

Technical Background

In this section, we will provide further explanations and current

solutions to avoid and remove gender-based abuses among students.

In order for that, the researchers need the use of laptops, phones,

hard drive, etc. to come up with the investigation and findings

including the use of Microsoft suite of products such as Office, Word,

Forms, and Internet browsers like Google Chrome, Firefox, etc. to find

some URL or links and references that are connected with the study.

Modernization has an advantage in terms of technology, it is an easy

access tool that we can use to investigate and gather information

about the research topic.

Related Literature

Paper 1
 xvii

Paper 2

Paper 3 and so on
 xviii

CHAPTER 3

Project Methodology

In order to satisfy the objectives, a quantitative research was

held. The aim is to classify features and construct statistical models

in an attempt to explain what is observed. For the purpose of this

research, In-depth interviews were used. In-depth interviews are

personal and unstructured interviews whose aim is to identify

participant’s emotions, feelings and opinions regarding a particular

research subject.

Project Design

The researchers chose the Non-experimental research design

because it is a suitable research design for the purposes of the study.

Beneath the non-experimental research design is the survey research,

the most common method used for quantitative study in form of a

questionnaire or interview. This will help the researcher identify the

number of responses from the respondents.

 xix

Project Locale

The study will be conducted in Antipolo City, Philippines. The

respondents will be interviewed via online. Also, our survey will be

conducted online by sending Google forms to the participants. Due to

the pandemic and new normal, we resort to this kind of method. The

study will be conducted in the first semester of year 2020-2021.

Project Instruments

Data Collection Process

Being in a modern generation has its advantages. One of them

is the modern technology. It is a helpful tool for people, especially to

students. With the help of technology, we can use it as tool for the

investigation of our research problem. In order to ensure that the data

gathered are valid and accurate, the researcher used the data

gathering tools listed below:

 xx

1. Survey Questionnaire.

A questionnaire is consists of a series of questions to

gather information from respondents. It is used to gain

detailed insights from respondents about a survey

research topic.

2. Interview.

It is an appropriate method when there is a

need to collect in-depth information on people’s opinions,

thoughts, experiences, and feelings. Interviews are useful

when the topic of inquiry relates to issues that require

complex questioning and considerable probing.

3. Articles and Documents.

The researcher browses some information on servers and

internet, visited studies with a source of high-valuable

informationthat is relative to the topic being investigated.

 xxi

Data Analysis

The researchers will use Content analysis wherein it

emphasizesobjective measurements and the statistical or numerical

analysis of data collected through polls, questionnaires, or surveys. As

the researchers use the questionnaire and interview as the

instruments to gather data, according to Amy Luo, (2019) this

research method focuses on gathering numerical data and

generalizing it across groups of people or to explain a particular

phenomenon.

Research Method

In order to obtain a significant amount of data for the study, the

researcherchose a quantitative content analysis of school dress codes.

The interview and response of authorized person and respondents

served as the data for this study. The purpose of thiswork was to

provide a comprehensive look into dress code policies to determine

ifsaid policies perpetuate gender inequality in education. The study

analyzed therationales given for having dress code policies, the

sanctions attached to dress codeviolations, along with the dress code

 xxii

policies themselves. The use of quantitativecontent analysis provided

the researcher with new insights surrounding dress codepolicies and

increased their understanding of the policies in the general context

(Krippendorff, n.d.)
 xxiii

Statistical Tools
 xxiv

The survey forms have collected 28 responses from respondents in total. The
respondents are Senior High School students from Our Lady of Fatima University.
89.3% of the respondents are aged 17-18 years old and 10.7% has the age range in
19-20 years old. 75% are members of LGBTQIA+ and 25% are non-members of the
said group.
 xxv

Among the students, 24 are adequately aware of the term “Dress Code” and 4
students have acknowledged unawareness while 1 have shown neutrality. 15 have
experienced discrimination on their preference of clothing and 13 have not. 23
students think school dress codes can affect the freedom of expression and rights and
5 students do not.

Half of the students agreed that dressing differently from your sex is appropriate. 6
students disagreed on the topic questioned and 9 students have responded neutral.
Regarding the thoughts of the respondents on the possibility for schools to remove the
school dress code policy, half have agreed and another half did not.
 xxvi

APPENDIX A
Gantt chart of Activities

WEEK
RESEARCH
PROJECT PLAN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
CHOOSING A
RESEARCH
TOPIC
TITLE DRAFT

TITLE
PROPOSAL
TITLE
DEFENSE
STATEMENT OF
THE PROBLEM
REVIEW OF
LITERATURE
METGODOLOGY

DATA
GATHERING
DATA
ANALYSIS
EVALUATION
AND
CONCLUSION
FINAL DRAFT

FINAL
PRESENTATION
 xxvii

CURRICULUM VITAE

_____________ROZEN M. BRIONES_____________
Address: 002 P. Oliveros St. Brgy. Dela Paz Antipolo City
Phone: 09453506152
Email: [email protected]

_______________________________________________________
PERSONAL INFORMATION
Age: 17 Sex: Female
Date of birth: February 7, 2003 Weight:
Place of birth: Taytay Rizal Height:

_____________________________________________________________________
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
School Attended Year of Attendance
Secondary: (SHS) Our Lady of Fatima University 2019-Present
(JHS) Dela Paz National High School 2015-2019
Elementary: Juan Sumulong Elementary School 2009-2015

_____________________________________________________________________

CURRICULUM VITAE

_____DESALES, PRENCES EARLYN E.__________

 xxvii
i

Address: Sitio PandayanBrgy. Inarawan, Antipolo City, Rizal

Phone: 09205341270
Email: [email protected]

_______________________________________________________
PERSONAL INFORMATION
Age: 18 Sex: Female
Date of birth: September 10, 2002 Weight:
Place of birth: Antipolo, Rizal Height:

_____________________________________________________________________
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
School Attended Year of Attendance
Secondary: (SHS) Our Lady of Fatima University 2019-Present
(JHS)Antipolo National High School 2015-2019
Elementary: Sta. Cruz Elementary School 20010-2015
East Manila Integrated School 2009-2010

_____________________________________________________________________

CURRICULUM VITAE

_____BUSIGUEN, DENICE JUNE B.__________

Address: Blk. 1-11 lot 46 phase 2 Brgy. San Roque, Antipolo City, Rizal
 xxix

Phone: 09491385928
Email: [email protected]

_______________________________________________________
PERSONAL INFORMATION
Age: 17 Sex: Female
Date of birth: June 19,2003 Weight:
Place of birth: Antipolo, Rizal Height:

_____________________________________________________________________
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
School Attended Year of Attendance
Secondary: (SHS) Our Lady of Fatima University 2019-Present
(JHS) San Roque National High School 2015-2019
Elementary: Knhights of Columbus Elementary School 2012-2015
Juan Sumulong Elementary School 2009-2012

_____________________________________________________________________
CURRICULUM VITAE

____VILLAFANIA, JHONA MAE F,__________

Address: Luzville 1 Sitio Daang Bakal Brgy. Dela
Paz, Antipolo City, Rizal
Phone: 09085920377
Email: [email protected]

_______________________________________________________
PERSONAL INFORMATION
 xxx

Age: 17 Sex: Female

Date of birth: April 24,2003 Weight:
Place of birth: Sibonga, Cebu Height:

_____________________________________________________________________
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
School Attended Year of Attendance
Secondary: (SHS) Our Lady of Fatima University 2019-Present
(JHS) Dela Paz National High School 2015-2019
Elementary: Juan Sumulong Elementary School 2009-2015

_____________________________________________________________________

CURRICULUM VITAE

____ROLDA, PRINCESS ANNE P.__________

Address: 470 Pinya Alley st. Phase 4B, Brgy. Dela
Paz, Antipolo City, Rizal, Philippines
Phone: 09957103643
Email: [email protected]

_______________________________________________________
PERSONAL INFORMATION
Age: 19 Sex: Female
Date of birth: January 1, 2001 Weight:
Place of birth: Marikina City Height:
 xxxi

_____________________________________________________________________
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
School Attended Year of Attendance
Secondary: (SHS) Our Lady of Fatima University 2019-Present
(JHS) Pilgrims Montessori Academy 2013-2017
Elementary: Pilgrims Montessori Academy 2007-2013

_____________________________________________________________________