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.

I only wore long skirts or short skirts with tights to hide sanitary towel use. .
Maybe less if an issue with period pants but I can still see trousers not working for some girls.

We weren't allowed school trousers in the 80s, unless it was for religious reasons.
I never wear skirts or dresses now.

Do you think your non-point about your not wearing trousers added anything? Your personal preference is irrelevant.

I’m not sure the school itself has said immodest. Agree that skirts and tights are comfortable but I can see the argument for boys and girls having the same uniform as things are at the moment with trans issues, which is presumably the trigger for this being proposed .

Sounds awesome! 😍

Girls finally able to run, skip, play in sensible clothes. No need for 'feminine' dressing at school, although am guessing the school trousers for girls will be tailored and have tiny pockets 🙄

All the kids should have the same opportunities to run around the playground and kick a ball about and not worry about scuffing shoes or showing their undies.

It’s not gender neutral though

its forcing girls to where boy clothes ( as usual )
grumpy gender neutral would be skirts and trousers and either sex could wear whichever

I can't imagine not being able to fit in any trousers - what on earth do you do when it's snowing?

Really? That's a real question? Good grief. But if you really are that dim and/ or lacking in imagination, then a thick, winter weight skirt or dress worn with winter weight opaque tights and boots.

Exactly

let them choose

To be honest I think it’s quite sad that so many people still view trousers as masculine or boys clothes. Surely we have moved well passed that?

YANBU. Trousers/shorts are modest and perhaps most comfortable

At eldest DD's high school the girls love to roll their skirts up, the popular girls can do it and get away with it while the unpopular girls get told off but if they have their skirt long they get teased by the popular girls for looking like an old biddy. So some resort to trousers. DD wears trousers in winter, skirts in summer. But she would wear shorts if they could in the summer

Youngest DD is still in primary, she hates skirts and dresses in any form and not only does she wear trousers but she insists on wearing the boys uniform full stop (boys shirts, boys shoes, boys pe kit). She is also the only girl in the entire school who wears shorts in the summer terms

Me too! It's quite sad really but it does go some way to explaining why so many young girls I teach hold the view that they have to wear dresses or skirts and it's more important to look pretty rather than play.

I think the point is letting girls (and boys) have choices. Dictating girls have to wear trousers if they don’t want to is removing the choice from girls, but not the boys.

Surely trousers would be more comfortable during a period? If you think about how boys have to tuck their thing to the left or right when they wear trousers

I knew a school where the women staff weren’t allowed trousers in the 80s. Bonkers.

The argument about trousers being better in cold weather is nonsense. Trousers are less adaptable to changes in temperature.

I don’t know. My dgd doesn’t want to wear trousers at 5. She will wear leggings

perhaps it’s to do with watching Disney and seeing and having dolls as they tend to wear dresses.

she also does ballet.

I think it's a great policy.

Young girls should be hanging upside down and running around and doing cartwheels, and trousers with trainer-like shoes are much more practical for these sorts of activities.

Older girls tend to push their luck with skirt lengths- my teen DD is reporting that some of them are wearing skirts which are so short they barely cover the bum cheeks.

I've always wanted my daughters.to feel like they can run about properly in the playground so they've usually had patent trainer type shoes and have always had trouser in their wardrobes to facilitate them having equal opportunities to play to the boys, who generally get much more practical clothing.

For those saying that "gender neutral" means making things masculine- women had to fight to get access to trousers as skirts often much less practical. I don't see trousers as "masculine", more as pragmatic, warmer, and better for allowing girls to play freely. Female trousers are available, with tailored fit and feminine detailing on them.

I’m a woman and I’m sick of seeing girls knickers, bum cheeks, and the gusset of their tights because their skirts are so short. I can’t understand how anyone thinks this is appropriate for kids in school so I’d support any uniform changes that prevent this.

@CowboyJoanna
At eldest DD's high school the girls love to roll their skirts up, the popular girls can do it and get away with it while the unpopular girls get told off but if they have their skirt long they get teased by the popular girls for looking like an old biddy. So some resort to trousers. DD wears trousers in winter, skirts in summer. But she would wear shorts if they could in the summer

This makes me so angry. The kids go to school and find the teachers are facilitating the bullying.

I find it quite sad that so many people are so determined to remove an option and apparently have so little comprehension that not everyone is like them.

You know what's warmer still? Trousers with tights underneath. You're welcome 😊

It's not about choice. It's a uniform. The school has decided to actively restrict choice so that everyone wears the same uniform. It's not really that controversial. It simply upsets people with a traditionalist attachment to schoolgirl skirts and pinafores. I can understand the preference for skirts and dresses, but trousers-only is an entirely reasonable school uniform choice.

The comfort and fit of trousers obviously varies by school policy (as does the comfort and fit of skirts). My dc's school allowed a wide range as long as they were black and not denim and were demonstrably 'school trousers' - wide leg, curvy flares, cargos, straights, skinnies, almost all with forgiving elasticated waists - something for every mood and time of the month. There is a lot of choice in Asda, Tesco, M&S, etc.

I just walked down my busy local high street and browsed a local fair. I counted half a dozen women in skirts and dresses and several hundred in some form of trousers or leggings or jeans (it is in fairness quite breezy today and that may have skewed things). Broadly as a sex, we clearly like trousers a lot. No one seemed concerned that they were 'boxy and unfeminine'. Or that all their mates were wearing skirts. Or that they may be bullied for wearing trousers.

Trousers are unisex. Because both sexes choose to wear them in large numbers of their own free will.

And again, it's a uniform. The fewer choices, the easier it is to communicate and police. Schools love that.

Patent style shoes for primary school children are fine to run about it, they're invariably gripped on the bottom with a substantial sole and fasten properly, they aren't skimming along on the top of their feet. Girls don't have to wear skirts or dresses, but for those that want to they can still do all of those things; a lot of girls in primary wear cycling shorts under their dresses or skirts or similar and actually find them a lot more comfortable than trousers. I agree girls shouldn't be forced to wear these things but there is a viable option should they find them impractical or uncomfortable or repressive- in primary in over 2 decades I've never seen anyone be nasty to girls daring to wear trousers. The skirt thing at secondary age is a different issue really, but that said a lot of trousers that are 'allowed' aren't exactly better. I believe in choice, but why that can't involved clothes more typically associated with girls is sad.

And women take years to identify brands and styles that work for them. Teen bodies change frequently, making it harder- the shop/style that worked last year no longer does.

I had enough trouble with my boys’ trousers. We were shorter and stockier than the trousers were made for, so I had to get good at shortening. They never had room for muscular buttocks, so had to go up a few sizes.

I know someone comes along to say this every time school uniform is discussed but really how come other countries manage without school uniform. Throughout the entire school time of my 3 children and all their friends ( in Europe ) this was never raised as an issue . They just wore clean clothes - jeans / t shirts etc & got an education.