How short is too short?

[Athrawes]

I have a colleague who is not used to dressing in a work environment. We are a school and she wears very short skirts.
I am torn; on the one hand I feel that she has the right to wear whatever she likes and that her legs are no-ones business but her own, on the other hand, she doesn't look professional. But again, professional is so subjective and maybe I am looking at dress code from a rather middle aged perspective.
Our work dress code simply asks us to dress professionally and is not prescriptive.
How can I tactfully say "people are talking about how short your skirts are, tone it down" in a supportive way, without undermining her right to wear what she wants.
Also - without getting into the wider debate because it is not relevant to this actual issue - she is a trans male to female.

Surely this is a matter for the senior leadership team to address, not a colleague?

Surely this is a matter for the senior leadership team to address, not a colleague?

Exactly - in a specific, practical matter, this isn't a 'feminism' issue, it's a management issue. If you have a problem with how someone's dressing at work, or how other people are behaving, you need to talk to your manager/HR.

If you want to talk in general about the suitability of mini skirts and the dress code expectations put upon women, then that's different, and totally a discussion we've had here.

In one school they ended having to be very prescriptive about dress code. Part of it was health and safety due to the setting which was Sen - no flip flops, ideally toes covered (I worked out trainers were best for runners ) but we started to have an issue with hip hugging tracksuit bottoms that would reveal a thong when bending over. So, no mid rif bare flesh. Short tunics worn with leggings. And in another school it had to be spelt out about breasts not spilling over bras.

A member of staff wore an extremely short skirt and bare legs for a leavers assembly (primary) and had bent over to do usual broken IT stuff. I think that was a final straw. Jeans only ever allowed on trip days.

I hadn't noticed that the person was trans except when I read comments. The above stands for who ever it is.

And yes, SLT.

Whoever is responsible for ensuring the professional dress code is properly adhered to has the problem of addressing your colleague's microskirts.

It's possible, I suppose, that your colleague has never encountered the belief that tiny clothes are inappropriate for professional environments.
However, given the prevalence of widespread and universal societal interest in what women wear, how they wear it, is it too short/long/frumpy/slutty/conservative/unconventional etc, it seems unlikely that anyone actually reaches adulthood without an understanding that short skirts are an unprofessional choice IN A SCHOOL.
Heck, I bet the girls' uniforms are policed regularly enough for it to be impossible to be oblivious to this.

It seems at least possible that the short skirts are not an inadvertent mistake, but rather a deliberate choice and defiance of the rules. All in an environment where children (assuming this is a school with girls) are trying to grow up with role models showing them they are not the sexual objects society wants them to be.

Someone who has had the good fortune of growing up without the pressure to conform to the image of a sexual object may see this as 'empowering', like Paris Lees singing the praises of catcalls and street harassment.
But for girls growing up this is anything but a positive thing. And they are entitled to learn in an environment that doesn't sexualise them, their bodies, their clothing.

I hope the situation is addressed by whoever is responsible.

It is a boys school. No girls.