Sexist school uniform policy?

[Bmidreams]

I was just wondering what other's thoughts were on this new uniform policy at a secondary school?

All students can wear trousers but it is fashionable for girls to wear skirts there, and most girls choose to do so.

New policy says that students can now only wear a new type of school skirt that has the school badge on. One skirt costs approximately £20.

Trousers can continue to be any type from any supermarket at approximately £8 each.

Would you consider this policy sexist? AIBU that I think it is?

I'll leave aside the covid 19 issues of not introducing expensive uniform at this time, more uniform probably needed as it will need washing every night etc.

its bizaare girls wearing skirts to me in general

no girls in either of the schools I attended ever wore skirt (I changed schools when we moved across the county) and the one girl that wore a skirt once got so much sexual harassment from the teen boys she and no one else tried it again

actually thinking about it bar my 90 year old grandmother I dont know any women that wear skirts for anything other than nights out clubbing or weddings etc... certainly not a practical, common, daily clothing option

@OpposableThumbs2

The school my DD is due to join in September is insisting that girls are not allowed to wear trousers at all. It was not my first choice of school but unless there is movement on the waiting list we are stuck with it. I had this fight(and won) at secondary school nearly 30 years ago and I am horrified that I am having to have it again now.

30 years ago, when I was at secondary school, we weren't allowed to wear trousers. Myself and many of my friends would have preferred to wear trousers so it's interesting to see that, given the option that wasn't available to us, many girls now seem to favour skirts for school.

I would argue that it is sexist
On the basis that experience for me has been that finding a pair of school trousers that actually fit has basically been impossible. The one style that would fit ( skinny leg) is usually banned. I do not know what measurements/models they use but every school trousers my dd has tried on looks like it hasnt met a developing girls body at any stage of its design or execution. And any sporty girl with the thighs to match is accused of wearing skinny trousers.

Skirts are usually worn becuase not only is it possible to make them fit. Worse case scenario when you size down to make the waist fit is that they are a bit short. Which doenst look as ridiculous as trouser legs half way up the shins.

Skirts are easier for periods too as you can put shirts underneath etc

So whereas in theory they have worked it in a way which means that there is a cheaper option and girls arent disadvantaged against. The reality is in fact quite different

The school are trying to ensure that any skirts worn will comply with their regulations.

It isn’t sexist.

I wish my DDs school would bring in a logo-ed skirt for them to wear. Finding a skirt that DD likes but that fits with school uniform policy is a nightmare!

This encourages girls to wear trousers so it's not sexist.

As girls tend to roll their skirts till they are about an inch below their bum then it makes sense and most schools do it to discourage this!
It used to be a fashion statement to have a short skirt, I imagine it still is!

YABU and creating an issue where there isn’t one. It’s just how it is. Life isn’t fair for everyone all the time; as some posters have pointed out they see the opposite in their schools where boys are disadvantaged by price costs.

If both boys and girls equally have the right to wear any unbranded trousers they like, and boys and girls equally have the right to choose to wear the branded school skirt, then no it is not sexist.

It might be genderist, as it financially disadvantages those who wish to express their gender through the wearing of a skirt. However, genderism is not legislated for in the same way that sexism is.

My dd is at a school where most girls prefer a skirt too. School trousers don't fit her well and she has problems sourcing jeans as she has long legs too.

You could lobby for boys to wear logo trousers- would that make you feel better? While I suspect the policy is to stop shortening of skirt length, it assumes that all girls do this which is sexist

Boys school trousers that fit well are hard to source too. My dd was in super skinny fit and they still didn't fit right. If my kids school monitored ankle length then there would be a considerable number of kids who couldn't go to school. When my ds was in y11 I remember there being more than half a foot between the tallest and shortest boys and yet school trousers don't come in many lengths.

I find it interesting that so many girls are preferring to wear skirts.

In any workplace I've been in, I'd say the majority of women prefer to wear trousers (except in summer where skirts/dresses are cooler).

So would be interesting to unpick the reasons why this isn't the case for teenagers. My suspicion is that it's because school trousers are very unfashionable as opposed to a great desire to wear a school skirt, and that a large proportion of the girls that wear skirts at school wear jeans/combat trousers/joggers most of the time while out of school. And allowing a teenage girl to be fashionable isn't really a consideration when schools set school uniform.

This encourages girls to wear trousers so it's not sexist

Trousers are problematic in many cases. School uniform is a huge business yet the quality is shit and the design and fit is shit.

Dd and her friends all hate skirts but they cannot find trousers that fit.

My dds don't own any skirts or dresses in their "civvies" but choose the regulation skirt over the regulation trousers like the majority for school.

As a Chair of Governors, I would take your complaint seriously. We make sure that all parents can get school uniform at a reasonable price, in fact we are in the process of amalgamating two schools in September, the children have chosen the new school colour - purple - as one school was red and the other was blue. Each child will get a new polo shirt, t shirt and book bag.

However, in your case I might remind the governors, on whose lap the school uniform sits, that the Competitions and Marketing Authority in 2015 took a dim view of this: CMA letter

They should also be mindful of this bill which is currently going through the house:
School Uniforms

Yes it is sexist.

Ds school tried this recently. I sent an email telling them i thought it was a bad idea.

This is the case in a lot of schools. It's to stop them A) rolling them up too short and B) wearing skin tight bodycon skirts. I've seen so many girls walking around in mini skirts that look fit for a night club. It's dangerous, they're still young even if they feel grown up.

Wtf? A skirt is dangerous now? So if a pedophile harms a child for doing what many children do, it's now the child's fault?

Fucking hell what a twat you are.

In any workplace I've been in, I'd say the majority of women prefer to wear trousers (except in summer where skirts/dresses are cooler).

RedskyAtnight Interesting. It’s the opposite in the workplaces I’ve been in; very few women have ever chosen to worn trousers. All female staff on our team wear skirts regardless of the time of year.

Hilarious, on a thread full of people saying it's not sexist there's people calling children trollops and blaming them for getting attacked by predators.

Girls always have and always will rolled up their skirts. Why don't schools just do away with skirts? Just have a trousers only uniform policy.

Yeah, totally. Not as bad as ds's school where girls can have hair as long as they like but boys can only have collar length hair. It drives me mad, such a glaringly sexist archaic and unfair rule.

Why don't schools just do away with skirts? Just have a trousers only uniform policy

Because trousers dont fit and it's easier to deal with periods with skirts. We could of course allow the boys to wear the skirts too so people stop wanting choices removed from girls

"..there is no robust evidence that introducing a school uniform will, by itself, improve academic performance, behaviour, or attendance."

Endowment Foundation [[https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/evidence-summaries/teaching-learning-toolkit/school-uniform/#closeSignup]]

Teachers will often give anecdotal evidence of behaviour being poor on non-uniform days. However it is quite possible that the poor behaviour is driven by the change in the normal running of the school.

Oh and girls in trousers are also subjected to the policing of their bodies too. Funny that.

Sorry, bad link:

Education Endowment Foundation

Why don't schools just do away with skirts? Just have a trousers only uniform policy

Skirts are cooler in the summer. I feel bad for secondary school boys because there's no shorts worn as summer uniform (our school allows boys to wear PE kit during very hot weather)

bushhbb why did i know you'd come out with the 'poorer kids wear expensive trainers' argument? Yes, and their parents all have massive tellies too. For what it's worth, not a single school in my area has a second hand uniform shop, and uniform grants are barely available. Basically you're using the 'poor people are bad with money, that's why they are poor' argument so beloved of the comfortably off and clueless.

cheeseandbiscuits well, the arguments are usually:

1. it prepares them for the world of work. Somehow in countries without school uniforms, people manage to hold down jobs.
2. it prevents bullying. Bullying rates at school in countries without uniforms are not higher than they are in the UK. What tackles bullying is schools cracking down on it.
3. it makes it easier for young people to decide to wear in the morning. Heaven help us if that's how low we set the bar for our children. And somehow children in countries where there is no uniform manage to make it to school.
4. it promotes pride in the school identity and makes it easier to identify kids on trips. Well, we haven't heard stories in the media about hordes of school children getting lost on trips in most of the EU.

My DD2 goes to a 6th form that has no uniform and a relaxed dress code. Behaviour is excellent. The students work hard. What people are wearing isn't an issue.

The one study that shows a positive association between behaviour and school uniform was sponsored by Trutex - who are not exactly unbiased. There is no hard peer-reviewed research evidence that uniform has a positive influence on outcomes in education. It's just a cultural thing here in the UK, and parents are being fleeced for a fortune on the back of it.

My kids have always complied with uniform when required to wear it. I'm not one of 'those' parents. But I hate uniform and always will, because it isn't necessary.

If uniform improved behaviour I think we'd see more countries adopt it as politicians love a quick fix that will make them look good.