Compulsory skirt supplier- is this discrimination?

[greenmarsupial]

My DD's secondary school have had an overhaul of their uniform policy. They have said that the new skirt is one specific type only and that it must be purchased from their online supplier or from a specific local shop. It costs £20.

The skirt itself is not compulsory, girls can choose to wear trousers but boys cannot choose to wear the skirt.

The other one-supplier uniform items are the PE top and the blazer.

It seems to me (as someone with no legal background at all) that there must be some discrimination law around making a single sex item only be allowed to be bought from one supplier when trousers etc can be bought cheaper from a supermarket.

I'm only bothered as a point of principle, the skirts were getting ridiculously short but I do think a general style would have been better.

Do I have any grounds to complain?

Boys will go through far more trousers in secondary school than girls will with skirts. A skirt can be an inch shorter than it was last month but trousers look ridiculous when they grow. My dd is in year ten and is wearing the same skirts she had when she started school.

Unfortunately yes, we see it all the time

@Palmtree9 the girls were wearing ridiculously tight/short skirts so I can see this.

How to avoid girls wearing skirts that are too short? Make trousers the only affordable option.

Yes, there was a survey put out by both the primary and secondary which are part of the same trust. The primary seems to have gone down a cost of living awareness route whereas the secondary don't seem to have thought about that aspect.

Does your school not have a parents group on Facebook? Our high school does and often items like blazers and skirts are given away free or for a very minimal amount.

It’s tricky to deal with the issue with girls wearing inappropriate skirts in length or style. It’s much easier to be able to say, you’re not wearing the regulation skirt. I suspect that will be the reason. Only girls being allowed to wear the skirt is the more discriminatory action, I would have thought - with the boys being discriminated against. But I can’t image that’s going to be of concern to many, if any, of the boys.

They do but these skirts are new as of the coming September so it will be at least a year before there are any available secondhand.

Especially not now they've seen the ugly skirt 😂

You are right though, it is a firm, enforceable line rather than teachers having to make judgements about the appropriateness of a skirt.

I’d complain, there’s no way I can afford £20 for one item of clothing, it’s ridiculous when you can get them at the supermarket for under £10

That knee length would be interpreted as barely arse covering - the type that you get from Goth shops, usually marketed along with thigh length long socks - even standard shop retailers have a strange idea that mid thigh can also be tagged as knee length, never mind somebody with the intention of getting the maximum level of exposure.

The specific skirt and style is probably precisely because there's been altogether far too many sights of inner thigh and arse cheek - straight or A line skirts are just cut and occasionally badly hemmed, but the most that can be done with pleated ones is rolling them over.

Sounds to me like this discriminates against girls who are from less well off families, because the supplier is a relatively high-cost one and they may not be able to afford it and so have less choice of what to wear than a richer girl would (or more likely, their family has to do without something else to buy a skirt). I understand why schools like having a specified supplier for skirts, but the supplier should be the lowest cost supplier consistent with meeting minimum standards for quality (and meeting a minimum ethical standard, e.g., not made by sweated child labour).

It also discriminates against boys, as they cannot wear skirts. I know in practice very few would choose to, but I'm surprised a school would introduce a new uniform policy with distinct requirements for boys and girls. Is this a religious school by any chance?

But why??? All girls are allowed ro wear cheap trousers. No issue.

An aunt sent her sons to a Public school. Her sons' trousers were constantly falling apart, holed in the knees, seams ripping etc. At the end of her tether, she took the boys off to the school's tailor for measuring yet again. Being something of a seamstress herself (grew up during the war where they were all make do and meend, remodel etc) she fell into conversation with one of the younger tailiors. He too her to their stock room to show her the piles upon more piles of fabric. Much of it over 50 years old.

No wonder the trousers kept falling apart under ordinary wear and tear. The cloth was so old before they even cut the patterns the trousers didn't have a chance.

Nice little earner though.

I've no idea why Iposted that. Sorry

What I meant to post was, what if your daughter wants to wear a skirt?

Our school has a specific pleated skirt from uniform supplier but it turns out m and s has a skirt which is exactly the same. Maybe investigate that as an option?

Everyone knows that this is to avoid the issue of girls buying short skirts or tight lycra skirts. There is of course the choice to buy trousers. It is a non issue.

It's not ok, and YANBU.

When it's hot, I assume most girls want to wear skirts and not trousers, so it's not good enough that trousers can be sourced in a supermarket.

I would enquire and then complain. School uniform should be accessible to all families. I'm sick of schools making children where uniforms that most adults wouldn't need to wear now, just to keep relationships with suppliers (and back handers?).

Good tip, thanks! I've checked and none of the M&S ones are the same but I could look elsewhere.

They do sometimes wear very tight trousers...

It's not a religious, just an Academy Trust.

What about cullots would they allow those? Sort of a skirt but could be argued to be trouser like so bought from a supermarket?

Our school had this but at £30. Thought it awful at the time. Only bought 1, DD wore it every day for 5 years and it still looks new. So very good value for money. Misses point of thread

It’s not discrimination. It could be phrased as “the uniform is trousers for boys and girls. Girls also have the option to wear skirts but they must be this specific style which is only available from this supplier”.

£20 isn’t a lot, they tend to last a long time.