Gender neutral school uniform = Trousers

It's probably a combination of wanting to appear 'gender neutral' , 'inclusive' and right-on with the TQ crowd, plus worrying about lawsuits resulting from boys upskirting, perving, Trump-style 'grabbing', etc, but being unwilling to confront and address that sexually abusive male behaviour. I don't really see a problem with uniforms actually being uniform though.

[And I wanted so much to be allowed to wear long pants and shorts at my school, because I always felt uncomfortable, restricted and kind of vulnerable in the summer dress and winter skirt that was our uniform]

I hate the way that it seems to be girls 'forced' into specific clothing

It seems that schools with a strict dresscode seem to either insist on girls wearing skirts or girls wearing trousers

I live on the continent. My daughter's uniform school lets girls wear trousers, a dress or a skirt. The international school she walks past every day enforces a "British" school uniform, with skirts for girls. I and she find that very restrictive and she hates skirts anyway after classmates made a comment about her legs (I would kill to have her legs but she now thinks they are fat :-( ).

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3293595-Schoolgirls-face-ban-on-skirts?msgid=79074536

Cross referencing!

The Times covered this as well.
www.thetimes.co.uk/article/schoolgirls-face-ban-on-skirts-kxr7jcwqq?shareToken=3f74a1508264b5b7d4bf1b736f9f3040

Decency?? Why are girls wearing skirts not decent? What a warped view of society - and from a Headteacher as well. Too many people are so concerned to be 'right on' that they completely fail to engage their brains.

I'm not a fan of school uniform. It takes too much time to police.

But Lass is right. Why not let boys and girls choose from the currently available options? I see no reason for girls to be prevented from wearing skirts if they wish.

I say trousers and nice kilt option for all

Yes, I think that sounds perfect too. Although, I'm actually a big fan of no uniform at all since my kids started at a school like that.

At my all girls school, in summer it was probably 25/75 trousers/skirts, but come winter, the vast majority of us did the switch and wore trousers - because why wouldn't you. I don't recall us all looking terrible, we all managed to find some kind of trousers that fit the strict standards

I think it's the culture of the school that determines how many girls wear trousers, because at that girls school, I don't recall any comments at all, but when I moved and went to another school, the vast majority of the girls wore skirts, and I remember lots of policing comments from both the boys and the girls.

Uniforms generally are a patriarchal instrument - as if dad knows best what's best for the rest of you

My children's school introduced trousers-only for girls (yr7-11) some years ago, as they were fed up with the girls blatantly flouting the skirt length rule (as we all did ourselves) and decided to stop the argument once and for all. Nothing to do with gender issues back then. Seemed sensible to me and better than the compulsory opaque black tights year round....warmer in winter, cooler in summer.

Decent? Any headmaster who suggests that if his female students were being harassed it's because they were dressed indecently should be sacked.

If he is hung up on enforcing rules then he may be wanting to head off a boy insisting on the right to wear a skirt, and think if it's trousers for all then that won't be possible

But he would have Lily arguing that this policy has only recently been introduced, is discriminatory of trans girls and pointing out other schools where a unform policy is a skirt.

A truly gender neutral policy would be to allow boys and girls to pick either.

If he is hung up on enforcing rules then he may be wanting to head off a boy insisting on the right to wear a skirt, and think if it's trousers for all then that won't be possible. If LM had been at a school where the girls had been made to wear trousers then they would have had no grounds to insist on their right to wear a skirt in order to 'dress as the girl they truly are' because they would be dressed the same as all the girls (and boys).

This is based on my assumption of abuse = abusing school rules as opposed to sexual abuse. The emphasis on 'decency' is concerning as well as the authoritarianism.

They will not tackle upskirting pervy boys, or tolerate boys in skirts, instead they take a choice away

It would serve them right if a trans girl complains. Didn't Lily Madigan complain about not being allowed to wear a skirt at school?

This idiot headmaster also said

'It is a gender neutral uniform, and we've thought carefully about that, ensuring that it is was gender neutral.

'We have transgender students in the school and we have an increasing number of students who are at that crossroads of understanding around their gender.

I really hope he has a Lily Madigan amongst his pupils. It is nonsense of course there is no reason for denying any pupil to wear a skirt but I bet he would not dare tell a trans girl they weren't allowed to.

The most gender neutralising approach is surely to dump uniform completely and let children wear what they want. My dd's school did this with no apparent issues.

I suspect that head meant that girls forced to wear trousers would be less likely to break school rules (ie to roll up their skirts).

Indeed Upstart Not only is he an idiot I question his suitability to be a headmaster.

The school my son was at has a strict uniform policy but now allows girls to wear trousers- judging from recent school photos and from what I've noticed from seeing senior pupils out and about it isn't being taken up.

Decent? Clothes cause abuse? I'd be taking that up with him if my kids were at that school.

The headmaster is an idiot.

Tony Smith, head of Priory School, said last year: 'The reason for the uniform change initially is about equality, and decency.

Our students will all now wear the same uniform. 'It is a much more decent uniform and it is far less likely to lead to abuse.

And for girls in the summer they're really gonig to notice the difference if they can't wear skirts - if they're at senior school there are very few schools that will let them wear shorts instead of trousers.

I know it means everybody suffering but it would be nice to see them introduce sensible shorts for older kids as well as primary age ones! Would people abuse the option? Probably a bit - but only in so far as they are already abusing the trouser and skirt options!

Teacup that's because a lot of girls and women already wear trousers, very few boys and men wear skirts. Even in Scotland where skirts (kilts) are socially acceptable for men very few men wear them. It's just going with the majority.

kilt option Could also consider knickerbockers.

We went on strike and sat on the field for hours to get trousers for girls. Our local school is now considering banning trousers for girls from September.

I do t understand why schools can't just have a list of acceptable uniform items (including trousers, skirts, shorts etc.) from which any pupil is free to choose any combination.

When something is made gender neutral it is always always always what is the norm for Boys or men made the rule for women and / or girls it's never the other way round.
Just imagine the furore if the new gender neutral uniform was navy blue kilts and pink striped shirt and navy blazer with pink badge

It doesn't matter if the girls are upset at losing the skirt option but it would matter a great deal if the boys were upset at the compulsory kilts.

I would have given my eye teeth to be allowed trousers at school. All-girl secondary school, mandatory skirts, mixed primary school, mandatory skirts. My legs were freezing because I couldn't layer up with leggings underneath trousers, tights with a skirt don't come close for warmth. I'm hence finding it hard to get annoyed about mandatory trousers for all.

I hope that they are all allowed shorts in the summer.

It is interesting that in the idea of gender neutral always seems to be taking something away from girls rather than adding