To think that a school shouldn't insist on skirts ONLY for girls uniform?

[Mollymom]

A secondary school close to me has changed its uniform for September coming and it consists of skirts only for the girls (long skirts-not sure that makes any difference)-no trousers.

Its caused a bit of uproar in the local papers. It makes me a little uncomfortable.

AIBU to think this is wrong and very out of date?

Don't have a problem with skirts but why is the school changing its policy?

at kilt.

Utterly idiotic. Takes me back to when I was a girl. And I am shivering at the memory.

It was brown, yellow and cream, MI. You cannot believe how hideous it was. Teamed with chocolate brown jumper.

I suspect someone was doing their level best to make us very unattractive to the opposite sex.

There are loads of girls' schools in London that have compulsory skirts as part of uniform. Quite unflattering kilts, in the main. One local school insists the girls wear bright white tights or knee socks with their mid-calf length kilts.

Surely if the school is desirable, and you sign up for it knowing what you're getting into, you can't then turn round and complain about the uniform? Can't see the problem, myself.

oo, I hated trousers at school when they changed the rules for our school. One overweight girl had a miserable time of it, she got goosed every day after she started wearing trousers.

Give me skirts and warm cosy tights anyday.

see the big image at the bottom of the page

frogs a. they are changing the uniform b. children don't get any say, it's the parents who choose secondary schools.

No, sure. i was just querying all these people jumping in to say a skirts-only policy is illegal. I suppose in a girls' only school the sex-discrimination thing doesn't apply. But surely there's an element of 'if you don't like it, go elsewhere' in schools' uniform policies?

It could be illegal in that it would prevent any Muslim girls applying to the school.

Yanbu. This head sounds bonkers. Wrap over skirts fastened only with velcro is so obviously a bad idea, just asking for boys to try and whip them off a la Bucks Fizz. They will blow open in the wind, too. I'm sure the school can't enforce this - I think the girls should just carry on wearing trousers. If there is only this specific style of skirt allowed, doesn't that mean that it is limiting where the parents can buy the uniform - bound to be more expensive.
I had to wear a navy gaberdine skirt with two box pleats, front and back (so unflattering) and a turquoise shirt with pink and violet stripes, or a white shirt with navy and turquoise stripes. All only available from one expensive clothes shop.

Couldn't there be a skirt & a trousers option?

This sort of thing makes me WILD.

Firstly, judging by our local park, Yr 7& 8 girls still like to go on swings and climbing frame....they won't in a ridiculous long wrap skirt, will they?

They are also a whole lot les practical fr cycling to school.

I really do think that skirts psychologically and actually inhibit girls physically - what if they need to run for their lives?

A choice would be fine, but the whole point of skirts - and why trousers for women were strongly resisted when first introduced - is to emphasise the restricted aspects of femininity.

at the thought of secondary school girls running and doing handstands! All they do at breaktime is try to look cool in front of the boys.

The whole point of kilts is to roll the waistband up to show more leg. Would we deny our girls that?

I just can't get excited about it myself.

And I speak as one whose dd has to wear a below-knee length purple kilt as part of her school uniform. She doesn't appear inhibited by it...

Exactlly Blu - it wasn't that long ago when many work places (legally) had a no trousers policy for women.

Frog-the parents signed up before the uniform was changed.

The school is in a small town but I didn't think attitudes round here were that backward.

Its that fact the head is stipulating skirts only for girls that bothers me-I think having a different uniform for each gender is on dodgy ground. I can't see girls in years 10/11 being too happy about this at all.

YANBU, my daughter wears trrousers to school. She is in primary school in Hanoi. Many children in Vietnam don't waer skirts, not even at home. trousers are comfortable.

WTF? Wrap-around skirts? Either this is a windup or the head is a nonce who wants to look at little girls' knickers or something.

this is from the old Equal Opportunities Commission. It says that there has been no test case about girls wearing trousers - although there was a case that settled out of court.

So no clarity yet about whether or not it's unlawful, but if there was an out of court settlement, sounds like there would be a good case.

YANBU. My girls always wore trousers to school and so did all thier friends.

madamez-ot sure if they are wrap around skirts (they are definitely long skirts)but they look like them in the pic in the paper- the mention of velcro fastenings also leads me to beleive thy maybe wrap around.

I promise this is not a wind up -by me anyway-I did have to think if there was some local custom for wind ups in May myself.

Actually the point about the fact that skirts are impractical for cycling, is an important one. All schools are supposed to be promoting sustainable transport to school messages as part of their travel plans and an insistence on a garment which restricts cycling, is a direct challenge to that.