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Primary education

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Original poster

Girls not allowed to wear trousers to school? I thought we were in the 21st century?

233 replies

TheYearOfTheCatMPADist · 21/06/2009 23:38

My DD is due to start primary school in September. I have been reading through the school's info pack, and I am really surprised (and hacked off) that the school specifies for winter school uniform, girls must wear a skirt & tights, and not trousers.

Is this normal? It seems so unnecessary. I can't really put into words how I feel, as it is pretty late, but it seems to be reinforcing gender stereotypes.

I am considering raising the issue with the head teacher, but would appreciate any views.

OP posts:
Dottoressa · 22/06/2009 21:00

Eek - the A thing is a bit too close to home. Hula: is the second letter 'S'?!

Hulababy · 22/06/2009 21:05

That's the one Edam

Hulababy · 22/06/2009 21:06

Dottoressa - yes, DD's school starts As. Edam's old school is SHS.

heronsfly · 22/06/2009 21:12

My dd2 wears kilts to school,last year a vote was held about allowing trousers and the girls themselves voted to keep the kilts.

Dottoressa · 22/06/2009 21:14

Oh, spooky. I may have to go and lie down. Edam and I were at the same school... I am now having visions of hairy-legged headmistresses, which is something I would rather not have. Kilts are pleasant by comparison!

Hula - one of my best school friends was at your DD's school (we had lots of girls joining at 11). I got the prospectus a while back when it looked as if we were going to move back to the area, and it looked lovely.

SolidGoldBrass · 22/06/2009 21:16

OK I was being a little flippant but would a school that's got a sexist dress code not be a bit inclined to dividing the DC up into 'BOys: Woodwork/Girls: Cookery' and very dubious sex education?

Dottoressa · 22/06/2009 21:19

Well, that's certainly not the case at my DC's school. Far from it!

Dottoressa · 22/06/2009 21:20

(And what, I wonder, would 'dubious sex education' be?!)

Hulababy · 22/06/2009 21:21

SGB - in the state school I worked at with that kind of uniform policy it was certainly not the case. No divide. Very much equal in what the pupils could and did do.

DD's school and the high school are girls only so obviosuly no divide there.

Olihan · 22/06/2009 21:23

Have only waded through about a third of the thread but there has been uproar in our school because they have added trousers to the girls' uniform. I personally think girls in trousers is far more practical but there are some die hard traditionalists in our village.

Governors have very little say in the uniform policy, other than signing the finshed policy.

According to our head, it is actually against all the human rights stuff to refuse to let girls wear skirts. In the same way it would go against the boys' human rights to refuse to let them wear a skirt if they want to. Unless a majority of the parents sign a waiver to say they do not want to uphold that part of the law then girls are entitled to wear trousers and can claim discrimination if they are refused.

Someone also said, entirely correctly, that primary schools can not enforce uniform, they can set out what they would like the children to wear but they can not take any action if you don't make your child wear it. Secondary and independent schools are different though.

Hulababy · 22/06/2009 21:23

lol Dottoressa - are you the same age.

We have been really pleased with DD's school. Obviously it was the red dress, blazer and boater that swayed it for us

Dottoressa · 22/06/2009 21:39

Oh obviously, Hula. I went for the school I went for because the uniform complemented the children's hair colour .

I am in my late-ish 30s. Did Edam and I overlap, I wonder?

edam · 22/06/2009 21:40

two of my very nicest friends from school went to A, I think. (They are still very lovely now, too.)

Dott, I left SHS in '87... would we know each other IRL?

edam · 22/06/2009 21:40

(my sister was three years below me so might have been in your year, Dott?)

Dottoressa · 22/06/2009 21:46

Pass the smelling salts, Edam!

I left in '89. We'd probably know one another by name, and possibly by sight (though probably not by sight now!) Your sister must have been in the year below me...

PandaG · 22/06/2009 22:02

[waves back at Edam] - thought I'd remembered right where you came from.

Now why can I remember information from MN and not my shopping list?

but to return to the debate (unless an independent school, because there parents are making an active choice in what they are buying into) I want my children to be able to wear school uniform skirt, dress, shorts or trousers whichever they feel most comfortable in and is most suitable for the weather.

squeaver · 22/06/2009 22:16

Just wanted to add to this thread that my MIL is 76 years old and has never, ever worn trousers (and now never will I suppose).

Says it all really.

edam · 22/06/2009 22:33

well it's jolly nice to see you again, almost, dott!

panda, that is quite a scary memory you have there. Don't suppose you have any idea where I left my cheque book, do you?

HerBeatitudeLittleBella · 22/06/2009 22:34

Something that hasn't been mentioned yet, at secondary level, if a girl is wearing a skirt, she's a hell of a lot less likely to cycle to school, so that's another sustainable, healthy option you wipe from the travel menu. Why would anyone want to do that?

A girl wearing a skirt moves less freely and more carefully than if she wears trousers. Why would you want to make girls move less freely than boys?

I simply can't understand how anyone can justify this, even on the vague grounds of smartness. It is really really important that girls are taught that they have as much right to take up space and move around freely in the world as boys do, and insisting on skirts gives them the exact opposite message - that they have to be careful, demure, modest, timid, because if they try to be are active, dynamic, fast, adventurous, their bloody knickers will show.

If you're 12 or 13 and you want to do a cartwheel in the playground, you can't do one if you're wearing a skirt.

Apart from anything else, the obesity epidemic is surely enough of a reason not to discourage girls from physical activity by forcing them to wear clothes which miliatate against strenuous physical activity.

edam · 22/06/2009 22:35

And yes, agree with you Panda, children should wear clothes that are comfortable for the climate and whatever activities they are doing.

So NOT heavy woollen kilts in a Northern city where there's an awful lot of rain and very high winds, then...

LadyGlencoraPalliser · 22/06/2009 22:40

Amen to that Bella.

Dottoressa · 22/06/2009 22:43

Ah yes, the kilt-flapping scenario. Oh, happy memories.

Nice to see you again too, Edam!

PandaG · 22/06/2009 22:52

nope, those flapping kilts used to make me cringe when I saw them, and the new, easy to shorten so much you see the thick bit at the top of the tights, skirt is not much better! I live just up the hill from A and SHS, and therefore it had registered when you mentioned where you used to live in a thread ages ago.

don't know where your cheque book is though!

thedolly · 22/06/2009 22:56

Bella, have you never heard of cycling side saddle?

HerBeatitudeLittleBella · 22/06/2009 23:04

No dolly, I haven't. I have never in my life seen a side saddle cyclist. Not once. I have seen trikes and I have seen monocycles and I have seen penny farthings, but I have never seen side saddle cycles and wonder how they work and how safe they are compared to normal cycling. Does it actually exist and if so, do men do it?