AIBU to think it isn't fair for school to ban skirts and dresses

[helloall987]

My kids attend an all through school they start at 4 in reception and it goes up to 18. There is a primary and a secondary site.

From September they have changed their uniform to trousers and shorts so no school dresses, skirts or pinafores allowed. All children boys and girls to wear black trousers or shorts. No school shoes either just black trainers. The two reasons they cite are modesty and a gender neutral approach so there is no distinction between girls and boys. This is for primary and secondary school pupils. My DD loves wearing pinafores and patent school shoes. I just think think that with this policy the idea of "feminity" is being taken away.

Most parents think it is a great idea but there are a few of us who want to contest it.

When I was at school, we had to fight to be allowed to wear trousers!! Whatever you do someone will be unhappy - personally I think girls are safer in trousers

Well it all depends on how you define modest!!
If tight trousers are modest then so are skirts.

Safer?

How come?

What religion would that be?

It's not very feminist of me, but for little primary school age girls, I think there's nothing cuter than the gingham dresses and pinafores, DD and i would be so sad to give these up. No logical reason, I know I am BU!!

No upskirting, no restriction of movement in case something shows, no argument about skirt length

Why are they? And why is girls wearing trousers at school masculine but not them wearing them elsewhere?

On the issue of options - how many options does a uniform need before it is no longer a uniform?

Ridiculous, why not : option of trousers / shorts + option of pinafore / summer dresses until Y6 then knee length skirts for Y7+ ?

YADNBU. Why can’t their ‘gender neutral’ uniform be dresses? The default is always male 🙄 What’s really gender neutral is to have a choice of dresses, skirts and trousers, and allow every child to choose from those options whatever their sex.

The majority of dress and skirt wearers are girls, so this is indirect discrimination against girls. I wouldn’t comply and I’d be telling them why. As a child, I loved wearing dresses, mainly because I found them more comfortable due to my body shape and size.

As for modesty, don’t get me started…

Because if at school trousers are the only option for boys all the boys will be wearing trousers. .a To A girl who has always worn skirts to school being forced to wear trousers is going to feel like she has to wear the masculine/boy option.

They're not going to wear knee length skirts in yr7+!
At our school most of the girls wear those very short tube skirts, just covering the bum. I just think if parents are happy to send their daughters to school in tiny skirts, who are we as teachers to challenge this?

My daughter LOVED those little dresses! There's absolutely no reason they or other dresses/skirts shouldn't be an option. As ever - in real terms, nothing really changes for the boys, only for the girls.

The skirts at my high school are very, very short. No tights. Thankfully it didn’t seem to be the trend so much at dc school. Supply teacher even commented how short they were compared to other schools and was surprised it was allowed. I told her that staff don’t bother telling them to unroll them because you get accused of being dodgy. This is evidenced in this thread. When they drop something and bend to pick it up it is not good. Same when going upstairs.

Exactly! Parents buy these skirts so obviously don’t mind. Personally I would never buy such a garment for school wear.

Or even when they stand up to go to the next lesson! I have to remember to look away, otherwise it's just underwear on display.

Skirts or trousers is hardly a mind boggling range of options.

Many of our children now wear the gingham shorts with either a plain polo shirt or a gingham shirt.

much more practical

I think it is a good idea. The school I work at banned girls from doing handstands and gymnastics from the area of the playground that has a soft surface. This because they can be seen from the street and they show their pants. It annoys me because we impose an impractical uniform then curtail their favourite physical activity. There isn’t a suitable alternative spot, so they have stopped doing gymnastics. I have raised it, but they aren’t willing to change the uniform and can’t afford to put up a screen on the railings.

My wee sister wore pinafores for a very long time at school for a similar reason, and she couldn't stand the feeling of anything around her waist.

I find the focus on the length of skirts a bit of a straw man. I live right next to a high school and barely even notice what they're wearing, never mind fainting at the sight of a leg. (Except one goth girl, the only goth child I've seen in a long time. My daughter thinks she looks cool so we notice her).

Edit: quote disappeared again. Does anyone know how to stop that from happening?

In your opinion. I’d have hated wearing those shorts when I was at primary school. We shouldn’t be taking choices away from girls.

Yes, it's a bizarre question.

Culottes are the answer. Look like skirts, fit like skirts. Can’t be rolled up. And you can do handstands in them without showing your knicks

Why? Why does a UNIFORM need choice?

I don't think this is a reasonable argument. Trousers have not been 'assigned to boys' for a long time. Almost all girls wear jeans and/or joggers at home as part of their normal clothes, so it's ridiculous for them to only claim that trousers are masculine when they are part of a school uniform. I'm not even a fan of uniform particularly, but I'm certainly bored with having to tell girls to roll their skirts down (so that they aren't showing their knickers). If they want to be allowed to continue to wear skirts, they could try not turning them into belts .