Should skirt length matter in secondary schools?

[Holdonforsummer]

My daughter is 15 and in Year 10, she attends an all-girls comprehensive secondary school and they are obsessed with the girls’ skirt length. The skirt is like a tartan kilt and is supposed to be ‘on the knee’ but most of the girls roll their skirts to make them a bit shorter (think mid-thigh). I’m a bit on the fence about this but her school go on and on and on about it. They stop girls all the time, give detentions for short skirts, have assemblies about it, and have even been known to measure skirts and give girls long ones from the list property cupboard to wear instead. Yesterday, my daughter had just finished 5 hours of mock exams in 28 degrees and was walking home - outside school property - and was stopped by a teacher threatening detention even though she had left school. She came home furious and fed up of the whole thing. I can’t decide whether the girls just need to toe the line or whether behaviour from the school is bordering on a sexist, misogynistic obsession. YABU: the pupils need to obey the skirt rules, YANBU: The school should calm down and stop obsessing about skirt length.

This winds me up no end. All it teaches girls is that what they look like is more important than what they learn. It’s absolutely misogynistic, and teachers have better things to do than worry about the length of skirts. And public shaming of girls wearing the wrong clothes contributes to eating disorders and anxiety. It absolutely boils my piss.

Honestly, the ‘skirts’ I’ve seen on my way to work in the mornings are embarrassing. Teen girls walking along flashing their backsides, I’m sorry but no.
I’m all for being body positive and wearing what they like, why should a young girl cover up because a boy/man might be looking, but a bit of decency and self respect wouldn’t hurt.
Just bending down to pick up a dropped pen would result in underwear being completely exposed. I don’t want to see that from anyone, whether in school, at work, or on the street.
Teachers have enough to deal with, so if detentions are required then that’s what should happen.

my friends daughters uniform is an ankle length skirt. Or trousers. It looks a bit mad with the long ish blazer they wear too. This is for years 7-11, I’m not sure on their sixth form.

Some skirts aI see are not so much skirts as very wide belts!

Well I work in a secondary school and believe me, after assembly, putting the chairs back is not nice. Then we have to ask the cleaners to wipe down all the chair seats each evening with disinfectant. Which is unpleasant for them.

in the town I live in there are 3 secondary schools and most of the girls you see walking about have skirts on that could pass as belts.

frequently girls’ pants are visible the skirts are that short. If you’re walking behind them it’s hard not to notice it. It’s also not a look that anyone suits. It looks cheap and slovenly but try telling that to a 15 yr old.

to me though it highlights that the schools don’t really have much discipline probably because parents like you, op, will back the children before the school.

This.

Teachers just teach ours kids please. Mind your own business about their skirt length, it should not concern you.

But is it the length they want it is it the length they feel they have to have it at due to societal pressure to look a certain way?

Women are sexualised far more than men and put under so much pressure via the media etc to look a certain way I often wonder if these young girls genuinely feel confident dressing this way or are just brainwashed by social media to believe this is how they are supposed to look to be attractive.

Genuine question and I don’t know the answer. I hope it is confidence, I fear it’s not.

Cheap and slovenly? Lovely.

Here's an idea. Don't look. I bet their critique of your outfits would be equally as sneery.

Spending the day adjusting clothing, then sitting awkwardly to preserve your dignity, not a good thing and not concentrating. As long as the option of trousers exists as an alternative, I am with schools who object to rolling up skirts.

Yes it matters. Some girls roll up their skirts to be cool and sexy and push boundaries. All the other girls follow due to peer pressure and avoid bullying, whether they are comfortable or not. And of course the girls know exactly what can be seen on the stairs or when they bend over. The boys for most part are embarrassed by it. And it’s not social media or a modern phenomenon, we were doing it 50years ago. And it’s not all misogyny or the fault of the patriarchy - the reality is teen girls are at an age where some will want to be seen to be cool and sexy and push boundaries. Kids school recently changed the rules so all girls must wear black tights if wearing skirts and girls have the option wear trousers also. It’s made a huge difference with a lot less competition and happier girls.

This. You are also at school to learn. A focus on how you look detracts from the purpose of school. It's why I'm all for standard non branded schools and coats etc. too.

I'm a teacher and would happily ditch school uniform altogether, partly because policing it is a pain in the arse, but mostly because it's an anachronism which most of the world manages perfectly well without.

But... I have no sympathy or patience with the skirt rollers who bleat about skirt length not being important. If it's not important, then why is it so important to you to roll it up rather than have it knee-length? You can't have it both ways! I fyou have school rules they need to be upheld. If you enrol at a school, you have to agree to follow its rules. Besides, it's not misogynist to think it's inappropriate to be showing your knickers at school.

The current length of girl’s skirts is a modern phenomenon though. Yes we wore them short and rolled them up but I don’t recall anyone having it so short their arse cheeks were on show. I see this every morning on the school run now. I don’t have an issue with short skirts, I’d be a hypocrite if I did, but when you can see their arse cheeks they are just too short.

'But... I have no sympathy or patience with the skirt rollers who bleat about skirt length not being important. If it's not important, then why is it so important to you to roll it up rather than have it knee-length'

You're a teacher but can't understand this? Ok let me help, it matters to them but should not matter to you. Bit like what you choose to wear every day matters to you but other people couldn’t care less, or shouldn't anyway.

How can school enforce a rule not in school grounds or in school hours?

DD1's become a bugger for skirt rolling - she wears shorts under it so the MN gusset pearl clutchers won't quite pass out in horror - but we go through the motions every morning of me asking for it to be a sensible above knee length as she leaves the house (she's so tall and skinny skirts are always going to come up slightly short on her, or fall down from an oversized waistband) and it getting rolled straight back up the second she is out of sight... and she's been told if she gets into bother for it - don't come crying to me.

'I don’t recall anyone having it so short their arse cheeks were on show'

I've never seen arse cheeks, but then I don't look at young girl's arses.

And it’s not social media or a modern phenomenon, we were doing it 50years ago.

We were doing it back in the 1960s. But tiny lycra skirts weren't available then, and most of us wore underslips, so we weren't continually flashing our knickers.

Why should other people have to see someone's underwear or private parts if they don't want to? This would not be acceptable in a workplace.

It looks horrible but teenagers just like to be contrary its part of development. Using skirt lengths are nothing new.

When my mum got confirmed in the 70s (Lutheran so confirmed around 14/15) all the girls had dresses so short they couldn't bend over, in fact I wouldn't even call them dresses more like long shirts. And that was in church. Mind when I got confirmed in 2007 that would not have been allowed 😅

In any case its actually part of why I disagree with uniforms as I think it makes kids do stuff like that to express themselves rather than just wear an ugly tshirt or ridiculous shoes (as we did at my non uniform school where no one altered the clothes but just wore it as it was made)

You don’t look ahead when you’re walking?

I’m not actively seeking them out, they are literally in my line of sight.

Why don't they just replace the uniform skirt with cullotes/ shorts / trousers rather than expecting them not to roll skirts up?

we have allowed sports kit in the hot weather. I am literally seeing bum cheeks all day…

Wear the correct lengthy skirt. Don't show off your underwear.

'You don’t look ahead when you’re walking?'

Not at arses no, I look up and ahead. Try it.