Sophia Njeru

Career Dress Selection by Secondary School Women Teachers: Nairobi Kenya Sophia Njeru

In schools, there are different clothing expectations of students, supervisors and colleagues of women teachers. Some secondary school students rioted over women teachers' indecent dress-mini skirts. The colour, pattern and style of a teacher's clothes may create or rob off her authority. Psychological factors that mostly influenced career dress selection are, one's beliefs, cost of the item, dress in which one looks beautiful and styles suiting one's figure type. Item is well constructed, suitability for work and fitting characteristics are among the dress features that highly influenced the respondents. The socio-economic factors that had the most influence were amount of money available, number of dependants and occupation. The most utilized sources of information on career dress are dress displays and personal communication channels, namely family members, tailors and women friends. Majority of women teachers are opposed to a formal dress code due to the need for individuality. Various career dress styles such as mini skirt or dress, transparent clothing and tight fitting clothing are unacceptable. This book is targeted at postgraduate students pursuing fashion design degree.