about girls being asked to wear skirts

[EddieStobbart]

Curious about this one as been discussing with a friend. Her DD is 11 and in her school choir. Performance coming up soon and request from teacher who runs it that girls wear skirts (and boys wear trousers) - teacher view is it looks neater.

No restriction with girls wearing trousers at school.

The DD wears trousers most of the time although friend says she does own a suitable skirt which she will be wearing on the day.

My view is the teacher seems to have have told the girls that wearing a skirt is more presentable than them dressing (like the boys) in trousers. I'm not comfortable with this - seems a bit "heals on the Cannes red carpet" to me. DF not bothered.

Genuinely want to know if AIBU.

It's only a skirt, relax

To sing with good voice requires exquisite deportment to get the best from the voice and with that goes an exquisite appearance

This is the most marvellous sentence I have read on MN for as long as I can remember. Do you stand misty-eyed, mint juleo in hand, amongst the war-torn timbers of Tara?

mint bloody julep even

YANBU. I agree with wanttosqueezeyou

Surely school uniform should be the order of the day for boys and girls, so if trousers are allowed as part of normal girls' uniform they should still be allowed.
On smartness one of my dd wears a knee length skirt and the other one wears dress trousers purely based on their preference. From my POV trouser wearing dd always looks far smarter and there are no issues with tights, socks, shoes matching. Also much easier to source smart trousers for secondary school girls than skirts.

However, pragmatically, I would be inclined to question this if I had to buy a skirt for the event but may go with the flow if she can borrow a skirt from a friend.

Great wasn't it Hully . So glad you liked it

yanbu at all

it' s a bit like when women are seen as more serious when they where heels wtaf???

BB - Ahhhhhhhhhhhh stupid me

I agree it is sexist. They should specify smart trousers for all - not the ones just short of leggings they may not want to see.

Or allow all choristers the choice of smart skirt or trousers.

aprilanne why is is nicer for girls to wear skirts?

I hate to see little girls in impractical clothing that puts them at risk of showing their pants if they play normally.

Ps I usually wear a skirt to work as I am quite short and smart trousers need to be taken up!

Wouldn't you rather the focus was on the quality of the choir or any other team rather than a pc argument over trousers or kit.

How can you have equality if half the choir (possibly more) are forced to wear something they feel uncomfortable with.

As for 'neatness' or all girls wearing the same then something like a robe would work, also a 'block' would work, so eg white shirt/blouse and black trousers or full length skirt.

I was in an orchestra and a choir at school and always chose to wear smart trousers over skirts - mostly because performing on a stage in a skirt, particularly when I'm not used to wearing one, makes me feel exceedingly self conscious.

My trousers were always smart and I looked far neater than if I'd been fidgeting from nerves.

You could suggest that they wear choral robes.

Oh, FGS. It's a performance, the kids are effectively wearing costumes. As it happens, the costume chosen for this group is an idealised, stylised version of their everyday school uniform- similar to ordinary dress, but not quite the same. I've sung in choirs where we've all been asked to wear our hair the same for tv appearances. Did I want to? Not particularly. Was it a look I would choose to wear on the street? No, but neither was the floor length maroon skirt and cream polyester blouse. There are far too many things that are genuinely sexist and worth fighting for, but this isn't one of them.

YANBU and I think it's a bit off (it's 2015 ffs!) - though my experience is that girls of this age are very conformist and will wear a skirt if asked because all the others will be, so it's not worth making a fuss.

My DD's orchestra just ask for black and white. Skirts are a pain if sitting to play an instrument and almost no one wears one.

Why is a skirt the ideal school uniform for a girl?

Is your daughter bothered by it? If so then let her wear trousers. Let her be individual.

YABU

I wouldn't be bothered by something so trivial either.

It's sexist. I'd politely challenge the request.

My daughter plays in three musical ensembles. The concert dress is white top and black bottoms. Skirts are to at least cover the knee when seated purely to prevent knickers being on view when they're seated on a stage. Skirts and trousers have to be reasonably smart - no leggings/jeans. Most children wear their school uniforms, even those with crested shirts. You know what, they play beautifully. Who'd've thunk it?!

Choir person is being a knob. my daughter would refuse to wear a skirt, I'd back her up and I'd take it to the governors if I had to. Talent has fuck all to do with your wardrobe. The school has a uniform that's good enough for day to day, it should be more than good enough for the choir too.