Schools should discuss whether bras should be mandatory: Quebec minister

Minister responsible for Higher Education and Minister responsible for the Status of Women Helene David responds to a reporter's question period Wednesday, May 16, 2018 at the legislature in Quebec City. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot)

Whether young women should be forced to wear a bra in school is an "extremely interesting" question, the cabinet minister responsible for women's issues said Tuesday in response to a recent bra-less protest.

School administrations should take up the issue and discuss it, Helene David told reporters.

"Is there a good answer, a bad answer? Personally, I am on the side of freedom of choice, honestly," said David, reacting to news about a teenager who arrived at a private, all-girls boarding school last week in Montreal without wearing a bra and was told to cover up.

She refused and went home but, since then, her peers have chosen to support her cause by also refusing to wear a bra.

A petition demanding the school change its rules has been signed by about 1,000 people.

Schools should govern themselves as they see fit, David said, but they need to open a dialogue with students who are asking important questions.

David called the young women who launched the protest "leaders with strong personalities."

"In the 1970s, women used to burn their bras and say: 'It's terrible, you won't tell us how to dress.'

"And 50 years later, we are being told the same thing ... these girls are really extraordinary, they are asking real questions."