School insists skirt is too short

I wish my beanstalk would wear a skirt. Gets needle and thread out to lower hem again.
I wish tunics were allowed at secondary - dd did wonder if she could get away with wearing a salwar kameez but felt it wasn't actually what she wanted. They aren't allowed shorts or culottes - nor the boys.
Female bodies are so variable in shape I wish the schools would permit a greater variety of garments/styles and support the girls in finding something that suits them.

Not to mention the cold/more easily skinned knees that could put girls off playing more roughly at playtime

My son's school at primary required (and still does) knee length shorts for boys all year round as skinned knees were better than torn trousers. The girls have the choice of cotton dresses and knee socks for summer and wool pinafores and thick tights for winter. At secondary level the girls wear kilts, boys long trousers.

When he was there girls didn't have the choice of shorts or trousers- they do now. Their uniform is very recognisable and I don't think I've seen any girls wearing trousers.

So far as playing , I'm not sure what "rough play " you have in mind for primary children. At my primary school in the 60s it was complex skipping games and hopscotch.

My daughter's school doesn't allow trousers for girls

And you accept that?! Where do you live, the 1920s?

How could my daughter climb the school playground set in a skirt? Or play football at break time?

Yes, yes, she could physically do it. But to pretend she could do the same things without humiliation and teasing if her underwear was easily seen is ridiculous. Not to mention the cold/more easily skinned knees that could put girls off playing more roughly at playtime.

Fair enough, some of you find them more comfortable than trousers/jeans/leggings. But to pretend that they don’t limit at all the movement/play of young girls is wrong.

On the school uniform issue, it does annoy me that the girls are policed more than the boys. At DDs school, they are currently having to wear PE uniform all day twice a week as the changing rooms have shut. The school regulation leggings for girls (expensive Canterbury ones, so not see through) are meant to be worn with the hockey skort over the top, for 'decency' which the girls find uncomfortable. Whereas the boys regulation sportswear is track suit bottoms (again, those Canterbury sort of fitted ones) which are more comfortable. Perhaps if 'decency' was really the issue, they could have made the girls uniform a pair of comfortable tracksuit bottoms from the beginning.

Almost shocking that more men don’t wear them.

But men are a different shape.

My daughter's school doesn't allow trousers for girls (I don't know of any schools locally who do) but I'm pretty sure if they did, she would still prefer to wear a skirt. She occasionally wore trousers at primary school but went back to a skirt by choice by the age of about 8. She just found them uncomfortable.

Outside of school she usually wears leggings, or occasionally jeans.

When I was a teenager I would have loved the option of trousers for school, but as a middle aged woman I have changed shape so much that I now find skirts more comfortable. Despite that, I tend to wear jeans because if I wear anything else people comment on me getting 'all dressed up' and it gets tedious.

Controlling what women can cannot wear from a young age.

Really, we need to open it up so that skirts and dresses are not seen as feminine. It'd solve a lot of these problems.

Our school says skirts must touch knee or longer. My daughter likes her skirts longer length and hers is at mid knee. They are really cracking down on it. But boys get the same - shirt and tie must be just so, trousers certain length and type, hair X length...
If your school is strict about uniform and you choose to send your child there then you need to conform.

To answer the OP's point it is absolutely ridiculous that a skirt just above the knee should be considered improper or inappropriate but the school, unfortunately, set out quite clearly what their rules are so can point to them.

What an odd thing to post.
Of course skirts are more comfortable as there's far less fabric clinging around and a loose fit is much more easily achieved - even more so with dresses. Whether they are practical is another matter but within the school environment - yes most skirts are practical too for most lessons.
So do give over with bashing women who choose to wear skirts.

By ‘trousers’ I meant all types of leg wear. Leggings etc.

And I am surprised that so many view the skirt/dress as a much more comfortable and practical piece of clothing.

Almost shocking that more men don’t wear them.

Dd has a Banner regulation skirt that's A line with a pleat and comes in 3 different lengths and lots of different waist sizes so more accommodating to different shapes than some skirts

Thanks for the Banner trousers tip. DD has been wearing only skirts for the past couple of years, because she couldn't find any trousers that fit properly. She loves her school skirt (a sturdy, non-restrictive kilt with impressive pocket capacity) but trousers might be a good alternative sometimes.

It does seem to be girls that push the boundaries more with the dress code.

As a long legged woman then it’s not that easy to get skirts that fit. If my partner and l have a daughter they will struggle. He’s also a long legged person. The fixations with girls school uniform is ridiculous

I found skirts very practical when I was bigger after having the kids.

Also way more comfy in the summer.

It pisses me off that do many schools seem to be going 'gender neutral' which in practice means taking away from girls rather than opening all options up for everyone.

And girls who are more curvy get even more shit when they wear trousers that are not cut to understand that some older girls have curvy women's bodies.

All of this is about girls bodies, and sexualisation of schoolgirls. It's awful.

Get a tape measure and use that to ensure you get the right size.

This reminds me too much of the mask exception thread.

I challenged the school uniform rules everyday at secondary school. I wish I'd focused more on my lessons instead of my appearance and not antagonised the teachers so much.

Yeah that was me, I was just interested in hearing outfits ideas for not wearing trousers when excercising as I like both dresses and trousers but often find skirts impractical. Just being chatty not thinking it's impossible

I appreciate some of you have to announce how gender nonconforming you are at every opportunity and how women fought for the right to wear trousers. That doesn't make those of us prefer skirts freaks.

However, she was incensed by having to constantly listen to male teachers going on about what other girls were wearing. For her, it is a feminist issue

Brava to your DD - and to you for raising her to be aware like this!

Loads of cultures the men wear skirt like attire.

It's more practical in some circs.

This feels like a derail. I didn't realise others were aghast as well.

'But no one challenges women wearing trousers whereas there are plenty of posters happy to post stuff like Strange, I’ve never met any woman/girl who had a complete aversion to wearing trousers? Is it a sensory issue?'

ONE poster said that.

This is really shit.

The problem usually boils down to girls bodies changing to look older.

They say we'll have a unisex uniform and go trousers only- taking something away from girls rather than adding to the boys. And girls uniform trousers on certain girls bodies do look revealing- because they are often cut straight and girls have curvy etc from quite young up.

Our school knew high socks are banned. Why? Because that's the 'sexy schoolgirl' wank image. Knee high socks and a short skirt. So they have to wear tights even though some find them incredibly uncomfortable.

Skirts- girls grow fast. It's just legs FFS. The issue is how schoolgirls are viewed.

I knew a bloke at work who used to go running every day in the tiniest 1970s shorts you can imagine. He had very long legs as well. People said haha short sorts but.. can you imagine what a woman leggy woman doing that every day would get

Boys just aren't sexualised like girls are. They just aren't. They grow and their trousers get tight around the bum and no one freaks out.

The situation with this in usa in some schools has been reported a lot. It's not unusual.

I've just had the most ridiculous set of questions put to me on another thread because apparently a poster thinks it's not possible to walk for exercise, cycle or garden wearing a dress.

Other posters on that thread were making equally ridiculous assumptions that only very old women or women with physical disabilities would choose a skirt.

Look, some people find it hard to understand that people don't like trousers at all...perhaps you could show how, although not the case for you, you can at least accept that some people find skirts a great , drafty incumberence?