Uganda Bans Miniskirts, Flat Shoes for Civil Servants

The Uganda government through the Ministry of Public Service has ordered all permanent secretaries and chief administrative officers to implement a strict dress code for all government workers.

Uganda’s Ministry of Public Service permanent secretary Catherine Bitarakwate Musingwiire in a circular said that all female civil servants were required to dress decently and in an acceptable standards of the Ugandan society.

Female officers “should avoid wearing sleeves, transparent blouses and dresses at the work place [and] ensure that clothing covers up cleavage, navels, knees and back,” the circular reads.

Female officers are further required not to appear for duty in open and flat shoes except on a doctor’s recommendation/medical grounds and further not wear bright coloured hair, in form of natural hair, braids and hair extensions.

Females who opt to wear trousers are only required to do so if the trousers are in “form of smart lady suits with jackets, long enough to cover the bosom”.

Men on the other hand were directed to wear neat trousers, long sleeved shirts, jacket and a tie and no open shoes allowed.

“We got complaints that some public officers are indecent. Some female officers are pumping up their breasts, wearing mini-skirts… You are sexually harassing the male counterparts and in Uganda this is not acceptable,” Adah Muwanga, the ministry’s director human resource said on Tuesday.

“We are mindful of the perception of the public to our officers. Do you feel okay when you have nails several meters long? It is not neat and healthy and we have to care about the health of public officers,” she added.