Girls told to wear longer skirts at school because the boys are distracted and male teachers feel uncomfortable.

I really think this problem is caused by the British obsession with uniform. In theory, uniform is supposed to make clothes less competitive, less of an issue, but in practice I think it focuses British children's attention on clothes, conforming, breaking rules, gender stereotypes, etc.

I don't think US and European schools (no uniforms) have these problems.

I don't think it's because of the workplace thing. It just looks smart. Nothing wrong with that.

Well yes I personally wouldn't (and don't - the men in my team don't have to) - but what people normally say about uniform is that it's like you would need to dress in the workplace.

Well I am a lawyer and I see zero women wearing nylon skirts with a shirt tucked in! I imagine people who are surgeons, brickies, zookeepers, till operators or astronauts see even less correlation between "professional attire" and school uniform. It's such bullshit.

At DS1's High school both boys and girls wear ties, at DS2's only the boys do.

No idea why.

wtf do we make school girls wear ties?!

Why do we make anyone wear ties? :)

School uniforms are completely ridiculous. If they must have children all wearing the same then it should be something totally comfy and practical. Leggings and tunics or joggers and t -shirts or whatever.

Talking of girls having to wear boy's clothes - wtf do we make school girls wear ties?!

If you allow girls to dress how they want, you have a decent chance they will choose a different way to "coolness". But if you force girls in a sexist, male-gaze oriented culture to wear school uniform with skirts, you really have it coming.

Absolutely this. The rolled-up / ultra short skirts are directly related to kids being required to wear uniform, imo. Teenagers have always wanted to find ways to show their own identity. This is one of the few ways in which they can in schools with uniform. When they're allowed to wear their own clothes the novelty soon wears off.

Why should girls have to wear boy's clothes?

A lot of girls quite like wearing trousers. At our school, girls were allowed to wear them in the winter when it was colder and the vast majority did. I just don't see why "trousers" = "boys' clothes"

There are many independent schools, prep and senior where trousers are not a uniform option for girls. At DD's prep, there is a cord skirt, blouse and cardigan in winter and a floral pattern summer dress from after Easter up to October half-term. At DS' senior, no girls wear trousers so I'd assumed that was the policy.

As I said earlier, it would make no difference if the school simply stated, "this is policy" because it's bloody obvious why it was ever policy in the first place.

I don't think you've understood, Shatners

Gender neutral almost invariably means male that girls/women are allowed to do too.

Why should girls be forced to wear trousers if they don't want to.

Bertrand So, by your reckoning, all women who wear trousers as part of the work clothes or business attire, are actually wearing boys or mens' clothes? How dare they.

Funny, isn't it. People campaign to have gender neutral toys, and not do pink for girls and blue for boys, but apparently trousers have to be for boys. Read it all now.

If there is a school uniform policy then of course the school has a right to enforce it. But to give that as a reason is just weird, sexist and a bit pervy.

I don't think there is an issue with what has been said. Boys shouldn't have to see girls knickers when the girls are walking up the stairs and the sight of a teenage girls bottom would no doubt be a distraction to any male, not in an eliciting an erection kind of way but in a bloody hell thats inappropriate kind of way.

In my last school too, on a few occasions, younger female members of staff had to be reminded about what was appropriate wear in the work place, it isn't always just the pupils.

Well fuck me. I always thought that camel toe was something you got from wearing shoes that were too small.

Now I know better.

www.thesun.co.uk/news/3257691/britain-braced-for-arrival-of-the-25-camel-toe-knickers-that-aim-to-give-wearers-perfect-designer-vagina/

Tracksuits. Nice and comfy and allow optimal movement and for students to stuff their faces with school dinners and snacks.

These days people are quick to shout pervert or pedo but girls do need to take some responsibility for their own actions. In an environment such as school or work a short skirt is simply not appropriate. It just creates an uncomfortable situation that is totally unavoidable. What these girls want to wear in their leisure time is entirely up to them but at school/work you keep it decent. It's a case of common courtesy tbh.

I agree that skirts that are too short are inappropriate, however as these children are not fully mature, I think they share the responsibility with the adults that are around them. Actually, even if an adult is dressed inappropriately, it still means that others have a responsibility to point this out respectfully, rather than behave in a manner that was inappropriate.

As a young teen I did like the idea of people thinking I was attractive but certainly would not have liked them acting on this in an inappropriate manner. I was naive and did not realise how revealing some clothes were. I would have been mortified if my mother had not taught me how to check my appearance from different angles in the mirror. I was mortified when my skirt once rode up under a rucksack I was wearing and some small boys were laughing.

Sorry - posted too soon -

If you are not wearing the uniform correctly, then you should expect to be told about it, and there doesn't need to be a reason apart from this is what you agreed to when you came to this school and you aren't doing it.

Not always. My DD likes to wear trousers for school but it can be a nightmare finding some that aren't skin tight, camel toe creating, "sexy" black trousers, especially now she's a bit older.

Well, yes, that is a problem with the fashion industry, but presumably, if trousers were the school uniform for girls, there would be decent trousers in the official uniform shop?

At my dd school the girls can wear skirts or trousers.
The juniors mainly wear skirts, some y7/8 choose to as well.
However, if they have to sit with their legs open they have to wear trousers, understandably.
However, I see girls in state schools doing the same activity where they have to sit with legs open and yes... you guess it short skirts with everything on display.
You have to blame the parents and/or school for this.
Just get them to dress appropriately for the situation, it isn't difficult.

Can individual pupils be targeted? Or would this take up too much time..?

They can and yes it does really take up too much time but in extreme cases I have rung the parents of pupils in my tutor group about uniform infringements - not just girls with short skirts, but boys who, say, persist in wearing a bright red hoodie indoors or who are wearing trainers (not for PE) for the fourth week in a row, that sort of thing. Trouble is, I then got "But xyz wears this and you haven't phoned them, it's not fair?" Yes, but xyz is not in my tutor group and I have got enough to do thanks.

The uniform regulations are there, parents will have agreed to them (ours had to sign and return an agreement) so no matter what you perceive others to be doing, if you aren't wearing the uniform correctly you should expect to be told about it.

I agree with this, for the vast majority of the girls. DD wore a short skirt at school, with thick black tights, because that was what all the other girls wore. Nothing to do with boys, or being provocative, she just didn't want to stand out from the others

Well, yes. I wanted to wear a miniskirt when I was seven years old. Because it was fashionable.

But that does not mean that the fashion was not influenced by the male gaze.

It is the cultural double standard that adult women have to please males to get somewhere (obligatory high heels and leg-shaving in some jobs, even), but when girls try to imitate those successful older women, trying to do it even better, as is only natural for children to do, then there's an outcry.

The obligatory sexual objectification of adult women, combined with morals that oppose the sexual objectification of girls under 18, naturally results in girls under 18 being denied the completely normal teen behaviour of imitating their idols. Which, of course, they will resent.

If you allow girls to dress how they want, you have a decent chance they will choose a different way to "coolness". (When I was seven, I also wanted to have green hair).

But if you force girls in a sexist, male-gaze oriented culture to wear school uniform with skirts, you really have it coming.

Why should girls have to wear boy's clothes?

Why don't they all just wear skirts?

What schools really ought to do is have trousers only - no skirts. Totally removes the problem.

Not always. My DD likes to wear trousers for school but it can be a nightmare finding some that aren't skin tight, camel toe creating, "sexy" black trousers, especially now she's a bit older.

I'd love for school uniforms to be all trousers though, I'm dreading trying to get her into the hideous skirt the high school insist upon next year.