Dear Minister, Policing Women’s Clothing Won’t Fix Men’s Misconduct

Evaluating MP Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya’s Remarks on ‘Skimpy Clothes’

June 6, 2025

At a public function on 5 June, Madhya Pradesh Cabinet Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya said he disapproves of the trend of women wearing “skimpy clothes,” calling it a foreign concept of beauty that clashes with Indian tradition. The remark reflects a flawed notion, as it targets women’s clothing instead of confronting the real issue in India, which is that many men have not been taught to look at or behave around women with respect, regardless of what women choose to wear.

The belief that women’s clothing should be policed reflects the way many in India continue to define gender relations. The disapproval of “skimpy clothes” often does not stem from a concern for modesty or tradition, but rather from a need to exert control, dressed up as cultural righteousness. The insistence that women’s attire must fit a particular idea of “Indian tradition” conceals the discomfort many men in power feel when women assert autonomy over their own bodies.

The idea that wearing certain clothes makes a woman less worthy of respect is clearly a problem with male perception, not with women’s choices. According to a 2023 study on how countries fare in terms of women’s inclusion, justice and safety, the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security ranked India 128 out of 177. This low ranking is not because women are stepping outside tradition but because men have failed to evolve.

The cabinet minister also equated women with goddesses, according to The Hindu. This is another form of cultural romanticism that offers no protection or freedom in practice. When men claim to revere women as divine but simultaneously dictate what they should wear, the reverence is hollow. Deifying women while denying them the right to dress freely only serves to moralise control, not to grant respect.

There is also an embedded assumption that “Indian culture” is monolithic, fixed and rooted in “modesty” as defined by male gatekeepers. But Indian traditions are vast, varied and have changed across regions and centuries. How women choose to dress in northern India differs from how they dress in the northeast, the south or the tribal belt. To frame a modern woman’s clothing choice as un-Indian is to erase this diversity and reinforce a narrow, selective reading of the past.

This minister’s remarks come in a political context where many leaders and cultural organisations are not interested in promoting an inclusive society. Instead, they push a regressionist view that privileges patriarchal norms. The insistence on women dressing “appropriately” within a limited definition of decency is a form of social control that keeps women in a state of perpetual negotiation for safety and dignity.

When men are not taught to take responsibility for how they look at women, the burden gets shifted onto women to avoid attracting the male gaze. This perpetuates a cycle where any violence or harassment is justified by pointing to a woman’s clothing, rather than holding the perpetrator accountable. What incites misbehaviour in men is their sense of entitlement and lack of boundaries, which are the real threat.

Shame too plays a central role in this structure. Women are expected to feel ashamed of their bodies and their visibility, to shrink themselves to fit into male-constructed norms of acceptability. This idea of shame is imposed early and maintained through institutions—religion, education, family and the state.

When a public official makes comments about women’s clothes being incompatible with tradition, he is adding institutional weight to the cultural message that women who dress a certain way are unworthy of safety and respect.

A society that genuinely respects women would focus on ensuring their freedom, safety and agency—and not on dictating how much of their skin is visible. The problem lies not with women’s wardrobes but with a political and cultural environment that encourages men to believe they have the right to decide how a woman should dress. Until that changes, no amount of moralising will make India safer or more just.

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