to think it shouldn't cost more to kit your daughter out for school than your son

[MimiSam]

My daughter starts secondary school in September. The school is an Academy, part of a Multi-Academy Trust.
The uniform policy is that whilst boys can wear generic trousers in the right colour (so can be bought cheaply in multipacks from many supermarkets, online etc), girls can only wear one specific skirt from one specific supplier at £22 per skirt! I think it's ridiculous that parents of girls have to shell out 4 times as much as parents of boys. I want to complain and she hasn't even started yet! Has anyone else come across this?

YANBU. It’s ridiculous.

Surely that's discrimination? Can you report them to the LEA?

YANBU. Just saw a video about Gillette razors. Their basic men and women's razors are exactly the same, pack of 12, same material etc. However the men's pack of blue razors is cheaper than the women's pink pack.

Absolutely ridiculous. I'm so boycotting Gillette.

Girls can't wear trousers?

Sorry I meant complain to the LEA.

Yanbu. At the high schools here it's the same. Girls can wear trousers. But again have to be specific ones that have the school logo on the hip. How is that even fair!?

Are you sure girls can't also wear trousers? That's definitely the case at my son's school.
Although I'd like to know where I can get trousers for £5 from.....

Same here
Girls particular skirt £29
Skirt particular for pe £15
Other items unisex or same price

Boys trouser black any supplier
Boys PE short £7

And they have girls and boys blazer styles so I can't even pass dds down to Ds.

YANBU however, I bet the reason they have done it is because of skirt length and to stop girls rolling up their skirts. Certain styles are more difficult to roll up. I’m a teacher and before we introduced one brand of skirt, the types of skirts they were coming in with were ridiculous.
Presumably you don’t have to buy the skirts though, can’t she just wear trousers?

We have specific skirts and specific trousers here,but the skirts are "more specific" i.e. you can get away with something that mostly looks like the specific trousers. Can the girls not wear trousers? That would bother me more.

Playing devil's advocate, I don't think it really is anywhere near 4 times as much. Skirts take longer to grow out of than trousers; girls tend to grow much less than boys during secondary school anyway; and I imagine at that price the quality must be much better than super cheap supermarket trousers. One skirt might last you ages!

Yes, our girls' open necked blouses (with logo on collar) and kilts are only available from uniform suppliers and are more expensive than generic uniform. However, girls can wear trousers and the school has quite recently made it an option for girls to wear a plain white shirt and tie like the boys do. So I think they have noticed that the previous rules were discriminatory.

Skirts quite possibly last longer than trousers (because they can start at the knee and you have a good chance of going 4 inches above, whereas you couldn't do that with trousers.) and you don't need as many pairs on the go. DD has one of each.

Plus to be honest, if girls stuck to the uniform rules - didn't roll up skirts or try to wear skin tight trousers, then the school could be more flexible.

Get in touch with Everyday Sexism. And yes, report to your LEA.

Also, at our school the basic uniform may cost more for girls, but the boys need more PE kit, so it probably evens out.

Yay, the boys get more opportunities for P.E so that evens it out?

It breaches all guidelines set by the DfE on uniform policies. They cannot make uniform for one sex more than for the other. However, it's an academy and they are a law unto themselves. If you feel like a fight, you can challenge it. Be prepared for lots of obstacles, but if it's important to you then you should challenge it.

Definitely evens out with pe kit at ours. Girls and boys pe shirts similar price, shorts and skorts similar price. But in addition, boys need rugby shirt £48 and rugby boots and rugby socks £9 pair!

It's not discrimination if girls are allowed to wear trousers. The girls at the secondary next door to our house all wear miniskirts. In summer they wear no tights and they barely cover their underwear. I can understand a school wanting to prevent such distracting clothing in their classrooms.

You can buy secondary school trousers in multi-packs? Where?

Why isn't you daughter wearing these 'cheap' trousers?

Yes, the girls can wear trousers, but my daughter does not like trousers, or find them comfortable (she has a very long body and they never seem to fit properly).
The official school skirts do not have an adjustable waistband, so the chances of getting more than a year's wear out of them aren't high.

So you're going to complain that you have to buy a skirt because your daughter doesn't like trousers?
My son only wears skinny trousers, they cost more in his uniform colour than other styles and colours, because it's a preference that's my choice

So the cost of the uniform is the same, you just chose to buy a more expensive skirt because your DD prefers them. Isn't that a bit unfair, girls have a choice but boys have to put up with 'trousers'.

We have asimilar situation with school skirts. Length has to be exactly on the knee. Waistband isn't adjustable so my Y7 DD who has slimmed down a bit over the year has to gather the waistband into an elastic band every morning to stop it falling down. Bought two this year. One only lasted 3 months before the zip broke. They aren't held in stock at the store and if I need to order one I have to pay £3.50 either for home delivery or click and collect at store. Boys are just in the black generic school trousers.

I’m not sure you’re in a position to complain if the girls have the option to wear trousers

We've just been to our local academy information evening. All girls trousers must be bought from a particular shop. No mention of boys. Also girls are not allowed to wear skirts.