Washington - After an Internet-fueled
furor over rules barring women in sleeveless attire, U.S. House
of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan pledged on Thursday that
House officials would review and perhaps modernise the chamber's
dress code.
Ryan made his announcement a week after a CBS News report
about the long-standing rules went viral on social media. It
prompted a slew of reports, including some that falsely accused
him and other Republican House leaders of unfairly targeting
women, especially given Washington's notoriously hot summers.
The current dress code has been in place for years,
including under Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat who was the only woman
to serve as House Speaker, from 2007-11.
"This is nothing new and certainly not something that I
devised. At the same time, that doesn't mean that enforcement
couldn't stand to be a bit modernised," Ryan told a weekly news
conference.
The dress code requires men to wear suit jackets and ties in
the House chamber and Speaker's lobby, which is just outside it,
and women are not supposed to wear sleeveless tops or dresses
without a sweater or jacket.
Neither men nor women are allowed to wear open or athletic
footwear.
Ryan made clear that all of those standards would not go
away.
"Decorum is important, especially for this institution. And
a dress code in the chamber, in the lobby makes sense," he said.
"But we also don't need to bar otherwise accepted contemporary
business attire. So look for a change on that soon."
After a flurry of news articles, the issue made its way onto
the House floor.
One of Ryan's fellow Republicans, Representative Martha
McSally, noted that she was wearing an outfit that violated the
code as she ended a speech on Wednesday.
"I want to point out that I'm standing here in my
professional attire, which happens to be a sleeveless dress and
open-toed shoes," McSally said.
It was not McSally's first brush with dress codes. In 2001,
when she was an Air Force fighter pilot, McSally sued
then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld over the military's
policy of requiring women in the U.S. forces in Saudi Arabia to
wear a head-to-toe "abaya" when traveling off base.
Pelosi took to social media to say she was glad to see
Ryan's statement.
"These unwritten rules are in desperate need of updates,"
she said on Twitter.