Are Christian Woman Permitted to Wear Shorts, Slacks or Trousers?
1) Direct answer
No. A Christian woman should not wear shorts, slacks, or trousers. She should dress in modest, feminine apparel that does not expose the thigh and does not borrow the man’s garment.
2) Scriptural explanation
- Deuteronomy 22:5: “The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man… for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD.” Pants/trousers are the man’s garment. When a woman takes that pattern to herself, God calls it an abomination, not a style choice.
- 1 Timothy 2:9: “Women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety.” Modest apparel means a decent, humble, and covered manner of dress—loose, not form-fitting; feminine, not masculine.
- Exodus 28:42: “Make them linen breeches to cover their nakedness; from the loins even unto the thighs they shall reach.” God defined the thigh as part of nakedness that must be covered. Shorts expose the thigh—so they expose nakedness.
- Isaiah 47:2–3: “Make bare the leg, uncover the thigh… Thy nakedness shall be uncovered.” Uncovered thigh equals uncovered nakedness.
- 1 Corinthians 11:3–15: God set a visible order and distinction between male and female. Our outward appearance should honor that headship order, not blur it.
- Matthew 5:28; 1 Thessalonians 4:3–7: We are to walk in holiness and not stir lust. Immodest, tight, or revealing clothing defrauds others.
3) Simple clarifying logic
- God made male and female distinct. Clothing is part of that testimony. When a woman puts on a man’s garment (trousers), the line God drew is crossed. Calling them “women’s slacks” doesn’t change what they pertain to or the way they shape and display the body.
- Shorts reveal the thigh. The Bible calls that nakedness. No believer needs a new rule—just obey the plain Word.
- “Culture changed.” Did God’s Word change? If the Scripture still says it, then the disciple still does it.
- Holiness is not bondage; it is freedom to please the Lord. The Holy Spirit will never lead a woman to dress in a way that denies modesty or blurs the sexes.
Practical counsel
- Choose modest, feminine dresses or skirts that fall well below the knee, not tight, not sheer, not split to reveal the leg when walking or sitting.
- For work or weather, add layers underneath, but keep a modest, feminine covering outwardly. There is always a way to honor God without violating His Word.
Short reinforcement
Now notice, this is not about legalism; it’s about love and obedience. The Bible says what it says. A Christian woman, led by the Spirit, will gladly keep the distinction of the sexes and walk in modesty. That’s the testimony of a heart sanctified unto the Lord.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
The Message to the Laodicean Church
58-0609 §26
I don't want to hurt your feelings. But what happened to the morals of this Pentecostal church? It used to be wrong for you women to cut your hair. I remember that. But now you say, "Preacher, there you go. You're hitting that." All right. You see where your private life is? The Bible is against it. If the Bible said in grandmother's days it was wrong, it's the same Bible tonight. The Bible says if a woman cuts her hair off he can divorce her; she dishonors her head. Now, that's right. That's what the Scripture say...
Why?
59-0813 §5
And then, like a person being healed: if they're not... See, faith don't know any defeat. A young woman come to me some years ago. It's when ladies begin to wear those, what they call scandal skirts in our country. It's kind of split up on the side. And she was a Christian girl of a certain denominational church. And she said, "Brother Branham," said, "do you think it's wrong for we Christians to wear these kind of skirts?" And I said, "What kind is that?" And she said, "It's a scandal skirt." I said, "The first pl...
You must be born again
61-1231M §75
Now listen. I'm going to have to cut just a little bit here, you know, get the briars out of the way. Women and men that won't follow God's Word and His teaching after they claim to be born again, there's something wrong. I'm going to speak with the women just a minute. If a woman that knows that God's Word condemns bobbed hair, and wearing shorts, wearing slacks, dressing immorally, and haven't got the decency enough to let your hair grow out and put on clothes that look like a Christian, you're deceived. I don't...
The Serpent's Seed
58-0928E §54
And you women, putting on these little old pants and things, and wearing them out here, little old (What is it you call them?) Knickerbockers... Or what is it? What is that, sisters? No, no, it's not shorts, it's that--got the long legs in them: pedal pushers and overalls, dungarees... Go and they said, "This is for the ladies." I said, "No, you're mistaken. Ladies don't wear them things: women might, but ladies don't." That's right. The Bible said it's an abomination for a woman to put on a garment... And for a ma...
A Greater than Solomon is here
61-0515 §44
Then you know what? I went to the window, and coming down that street (if I shall live to be a hundred and could be in my mind, I shall never forget that) there come seven big British vans (I don't know that you know what they are or not---about as long as from here back to that wall.) loaded full of crutches, boards, wheelchairs, instruments, that they had been packed out of the jungles for hundreds of miles, and weeks coming, like that. There they was in them, the seven van loads, piled up to the top. And behind...