Female lawyers say they're disadvantaged by discriminatory dress codes

As in-person prison visits and courtroom trials begin to reopen, women are contending with renewed concerns over how their wardrobes influence their work.Professional dress codes for women have been relaxed since several decades back, when drab skirt suits with hems below the kneecaps were the fashion du jour and women in pants were taboo in office settings.But even as recently as a handful of years ago, law firms, law schools, and bar associations instructed female lawyers on what they should and shouldn't wear. According to a blogger who attended the show, one professor said, "Maybe you bought your suit at Express or somewhere … and you bent over to get a Danish and I can see your tramp stamp."While dress-code guidance has been made in the name of professionalism, female lawyers told Insider that the rules sought to hold women responsible for men's reactions."These justifications are a vestige of white-male privilege that dominates our culture," Jennifer Sellitti, a training director at the New Jersey Office of the Public Defender, said. Other aspects of appearance, like makeup, hairstyles, and shoes, are scrutinized as well.Things can be doubly difficult for women of color, who often have to contend with implicit biases based on their race."I practice in a jurisdiction where a lot of clients fortunately look like me, but I need to make sure I look different to make sure people take me seriously as a lawyer," Heather Pinckney, a managing partner at the DC firm Harden & Pinckney, said.Pinckney, who often has her hair in braids or "anything somebody's rocking on the street," said that she'd been stopped by marshals and court officials who assumed she wasn't an attorney — and that her white colleagues, dressed in similar fashion, hadn't been confronted in this way.