Girls being less active due to school uniform

[SummerDays2020]

https://amp.theguardian.com/education/2024/feb/15/school-uniforms-may-be-barrier-to-physical-activity-among-younger-girls

I have wondered why schools don't just have a unisex uniform and this seems a good reason to do it. Also to make the uniform less restrictive.

Are girls being restricted with what they wear at state primary schools? I haven't come across a local school that does not allow trousers and shorts for both sexes.

Our local high school gives the option but I notice that the majority of girls still choose skirts. I worry about them when I see them on cold days!

The issue is that parents need to take the active approach to teach girls to be what they want and not follow the fashion.

DD is now 16 and dresses mainly in hoodie and jeans/joggers at home as she has to wear full business dress at 6th form. She like to dress up, wears make up and has a jewellery box overflowing as well.

She is an Explorer Scout and spend many weekends in the mud, camping in autumn/winter, loves watersport but also plays theatre, dances and enjoys sparkly costumes.

When she was small we dressed her for comfort, waterproof coates, good shoes, proper boots in winter so she could play outside and stay warm.
Yes, she also had sparkly sandals, white and pink trainers and pretty dresses.

We treated her like a child, not necessarily a girl, by enabling her to play with what she wanted. We dressed her like a child, not a doll or a mini-adult.

I think parents are too afraid of letting girls play rougher and they are not given the equipment to play safely. These tiny ballerina shoes don't work if you are running and playing catch. So the girls will sit down and not be active.

I remember plenty of playground visits where girls where told not to do something on the climbing frame or to be more careful on the swing.

Well, ok in theory. In reality how many boys are wearing the skirts, dresses, culottes and pinafores? And while some girls may wear shorts or trousers most will be wearing skirts or dresses. And parents could put cycling shorts or leggings with them, most don't. Which was why I suggested a uniform of trousers or shorts. Girls wear them for P.E so why not for uniform? Nothing to say they can't wear comfy stretchy trousers/joggers/leggings. Then they can get as much exercise as the boys.

I was the same had to have waists taken in. Could you not do that for DD? Or can she wear leggings? Does she wear shorts for P.E?

Parents can buy what they want off the uniform list, at least in the infant years. These are small children.

It doesn't have to be that idea it could be another solution. If course it needs to be comfy. Most girls seem to find leggings and shorts comfy, though.

I suppose a long dress could be warmer than trousers but girls tend to wear short dresses to school. They also don't usually have dresses as an option at Secondary school.

I personally would want to find a solution rather than just insist girls should be able to wear skirts and dresses knowing it is affecting them getting enough exercise.

I don't think its the clothes so much as the messages given. I was at primary back in the 70s, we wore skirts and ran around and played because we weren't being constantly bombarded with messages about not flashing our knickers. Female children are getting more and more societal disapproval put on them from a younger age. My own lives in trousers but it is very hard when you have an incredibly tall and excessively slim daughter to get trousers

At my DD's school they were allowed trainers and DD always wore cycling shorts but I don't think many did. DD was into gymnastics so liked to do cartwheels and round offs in the playground. She wouldn't have without the cycling shorts. The report says girls are not wanting to do these things because of their uniform which presumably is meaning skirts and dresses with no cycling shorts or leggings underneath as well as shoes. Girls shouldn't be held back like this.

I don't think it is coats so much as if you were cold you'd probably run around more. Shoes definitely are an issue and as mentioned in the report not wanting to do cartwheels etc. if in a skirt or dress.

Actually I think they do - many girls are into gymnastics. But you can't do a cartwheel or handstand in a skirt without 'flashing your knickers' no matter how long your skirt is!

Have you read the link? I think you are totally missing the point! This is a health issue! This is nothing to do with sport. It is about girls being held back from getting the amount of exercise they need for their health!

How do Americans (or any other non uniform people) manage to dress for the corporate world after spending their first 22 years wearing whatever is on top of the pile to class every day...

Answers on a teeny tiny postcard please.

Skirts are only the bottom half of the school uniform.

The top half is what boys and men wear (or used to).

It could be argued that the message behind the typical skirt/ collared shirt/ tie/ blazer uniform is that the girls are tolerated as long as they are basically dressed as skirted boys.

How does that convey a sense of ownership in their school experience? Is there a subliminal message sent to girls that serious pursuits require a masculine appearance? That the feminine has no place in an environment where they are expected to use their brains?

My kids went to a state high school in the US and did not wear uniform. They mostly wore jeans or shorts depending on the weather, though they also wore the odd skirt or dress. The tops they wore with jeans or shorts were often quite feminine. The current cohort of local female high schoolers seem to be wearing looser sweatpants and cropped tops, with a zipped sweatshirt. In the warmer weather they were mostly wearing shorts or light skirts with the crop tops. Students are allowed to wear makeup, dye their hair, grow beards, and sport piercings of all kinds. It's a school where an effort is made to ensure a sense of belonging.

I went to primary school in the 70s in Ireland. We wore uniform, which was unusual for Irish schools of the time, and it was a spectacularly fussy one, with a shirt and tie, wool jumper, beret, school socks, school coat, blazer - and a knife pleated skirt. The cry of "I see London, I see France..." was frequently heard on the playground. And it was an all girls primary too.

It was an excellent school in ways to numerous to count, but my oh my, that uniform...

*too numerous

Where there is a will there is a way. If girls have an urge to throw cartwheels then gym pants/shorts under a skirt and sensible shoes is perfectly do-able and comfortable. Do you see lots of girls at schools where trousers are allowed doing gymnastics in the playground?

Of course girls should have the choice of uniform. But still, the skirt is not the problem.

Yes, because even though girls have the option of trousers or shorts most parents are putting them in skirts or dresses without leggings or cycling shorts underneath. Shoes are not always suitable for exercise either. Whether that comes from the school or the parents - yes, girls are getting less exercise than boys based on what they are wearing. All children who wear uniform are getting less exercise than those without uniform.

@SummerDays2020

Why aren't the parents just buying shorts and trousers for girls? Especially the 4 to 7 year olds, surely what clothing is owned is the parent's choice at that age? When my son started school I just bought uniform and he wore it.

Yes, I know that's what I said - my DD always wears cycling shorts under her skirt. But many parents don't do that. And it's all very well telling a 5 yo where there is a will there's a way but she doesn't buy her uniform or necessarily choose what to wear.

I'm not quite sure what you are asking. Trousers are allowed at most if not all schools. Do lots of girls like gymnastics? Yes. Do lots do it in the playground? Yes - younger ones that may not care if their knickers are shown and those in trousers/shorts/leggings. Do many girls not take part because of dresses/skirts with no leggings or shorts underneath - yes and this contributes to them not getting enough exercise.

Plenty of girls in DD's infant and junior school did gymnastics in break and lots wore cycle shorts underneath their skirts.

Putting a girl in trousers does not mean she will be active automatically. A girl can sit quitely in a play corner in trousers as good as she can climb in a skirt.

You can easily ensure a girl does enough exercises by her walking, having a sporty hobby and being active as a family. The little bit of school break and lunch is not what is the main problem.

We need to encourage girls to do what they want to wear, not choosing and dictating clothes.

My DD has hit puberty and finds the stretchy jersey trousers more comfy than the skirts. I would imagine there are issues if the school dictates what type of trousers are allowed but equally what type of skirt. Most girls seem to manage wearing jeans and joggers etc at the weekends.

But girls are saying they are not being active because of their clothes.

How it is choosing and dictating clothes when the report argues against uniform? It's funny how people are so keen on dictating a uniform but any change to the uniform so girls can be more active is 'dictating'!! 😂

Tbh the requirement for "smart" clothes is the problem. We tell our kids to wear the equivalent of dress trousers/skirts and dress shoes and then wonder why they're not more active.

Putting girls into cheaply made versions of dress trousers doesn't help either - it's difficult enough as an adult woman with a mostly stable body shape to find a pair that are flattering and comfortable and make one feel at ease every day, quite without the bizarre restraints around colour/fit/supplier that school dress codes impose. And girls who do not feel at ease are inactive.

One of the more bizarre initiatives that happened when my dcs were at school was when some dozy berk had the brainwave of encouraging more activity by making the kids run round the playground repeatedly in laps for a certain amount of time each day. So you had all these kids wearing thin soled formal shoes and shitty polyester copies of 80s adult clothing grimly belting round the tarmac as directed, as though that would make up for the fact that as they're wearing restrictive clothing their movement is restricted.

I hate stuffy school uniforms. Our school has a branded polo shirt and sweatshirt paired with either a skirt/pinafore or school trousers. On days they have pe or and after school sport they can just wear joggers/leggings. So they were wearing the trousers/skirt only 2 days of the week.
My son has got used to the comfort of the joggers so said he didn't want trousers this year, fine by me, save me £££ on "school shoes" that he would hardly wear anyway. Daughter has been mostly wearing the leggings this year too, that much so that she has only worn the skirt and "school shoes" a handful of times, leggings and trainers much more comfortable for running and climbing in. I won't be buying a skirt for next year. Thankfully our school is not that strict and nobody has said anything to me about it.