Faith school where women are banned from wearing trousers becomes state funded

[ArabellaSaurus]

https://www.secularism.org.uk/news/2025/09/faith-school-which-bans-women-wearing-trousers-becomes-state-funded

'The National Secular Society has expressed alarm that a London faith school which bans women from wearing trousers and penalises families who attend non-kosher restaurants will now be funded by the state.
Nancy Reuben Primary School re-opened as a voluntary aided (VA) state school this month, after operating as an independent school for 26 years. Its decision to join the state sector follows the Government's move to charge VAT on independent school fees.'

'Women may not wear trousers, mini skirts, shorts, low necklines or sleeveless tops
The school's dress code for parents and visitors says men "must have their head covered at all times" and women "must wear skirts of knee length (a maximum of 2" above is acceptable)". It says trousers "may not be worn" by women.
Additionally, women must cover their underarms and may not wear cap sleeves. Women may not wear clothes with necklines lower than "4 fingers from the collar bone" either "in front or back of the garment".
Trousers are permitted for aupairs and nannies but they may not wear mini skirts, shorts, plunging necklines or sleeveless tops.'

To an extent. The issue here, I'd say, is the state funding a school with sexist policies, which appears to lend tacit support to those ideas.

Just wait until you find out about state-funded Islamic schools.

There are options. The people I am talking about see themselves as white. Probably because of their European background.

I've posted about those in the past, yep.

I think you’re going to find sexist policies in any religious school because religions are fundamentally sexist. The question is perhaps should the country enable people to live and learn under a sexist ethos in the name of a multicultural pluralist society. If not then all faith schools must be made private. And that then leads to the problems seen in ultra religious private schools which are apparently not required to provide the same basic education as state schools. Or are they?

Yes when midwives prioritise the Jewish women to leave by organising their discharge admin and medication first to the detriment of other women who have been waiting longer. This often occurs because a doctor has promised them it will happen. This was a regular occurrence at one hospital I trained but their maternity department is closed now I think.

You’re talking about Orthodox Jews who are still Jews. Just a sect. They are from the same origins of every other non converted Jew on the planet - Judea. The Middle East. They can tick what they like, Jews aren’t white.

.Reported ethnic groups and religions
Jewish ethnic group write-ins
People who identified as Jewish through ethnic group only were most likely to provide a write-in response under the high-level "White" group (54.9%). This was followed by the "Any other ethnic group" (33.6%). Just over one-tenth (10.5%) provided a write-in under "Mixed or Multiple ethnic groups". Lastly, 0.9% provided a write-in under "Black, Black British, Black Welsh, Caribbean or African: African".

Considering people who identified as Jewish through both religion and ethnic group, 49.6% provided a write-in under "Any other ethnic group" and 48.5% under the high-level "White" group.

Reported ethnic group for people who identified as Jewish through religion only

People who identified as Jewish through religion only were most likely to identify their ethnic group using the "White: English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish or British" tick-box (82.9%). Just over one-tenth (10.9%) provided a write-in response under "Any other White background".

Reported religion for people who identified as Jewish through ethnic group only (5.6%)

People who identified as Jewish through ethnic group but did not identify as Jewish through religion mostly identified as having no religion (67.3%). Around one-fifth (19.2%) did not answer the religion question, which was voluntary. Of the religions provided as tick-box responses, Christian was the most common (8.4%).

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/culturalidentity/religion/articles/jewishidentityenglandandwales/census2021#people-who-identified-as-jewish-in-2011-to-2021

Are you going to tell all these people that they aren't white? Plus 92% of American Jewish people?

Where are these non-faith schools? I don’t know any secular schools.

In Scotland, the SNP have explicitly made schools more CofS, noting that as the main national religion. Schools are more religious now than they were when I was a child, I'd say, although there is provision for the non-religious, and one can opt out of religious lessons.

I'm not sure how the landscape is elsewhere in the UK.

Yes i should have been more specific referring to faith schools vs religious schools (that require certain religious behaviours). But maybe it’s time the UK did have some secular schools.

@LoftyRobinat the hospital you trained at? So not recently then?

Is it just Jewish women you have a problem with? Or all women of faith?

People who identified as Jewish through ethnic group only were most likely to provide a write-in response under the high-level "White" group (54.9%). This was followed by the "Any other ethnic group" (33.6%). Just over one-tenth (10.5%) provided a write-in under "Mixed or Multiple ethnic groups". Lastly, 0.9% provided a write-in under "Black, Black British, Black Welsh, Caribbean or African: African".
Are you going to tell all these people that they aren't white?

So you are saying Jewish people are having to write in a response because they are not provided with an option that fits them? How many would have ticked ‘white’ if given the option Jewish?

I’ve already explained the reason for the statistics. Jews aren’t white. Stop arguing with a Jew about what we are or are not. The whole reason the Holocaust happened was because we weren’t considered white. I don’t wish to engage with you further. You and your comments are offensive and racist.

I really don’t understand as a supposed medical professional why this is your dig in moment? Seems disingenuous at best.

@Jujujudoyep.

The hospital I trained at was in one of the orthodox communities. The other ones neighbour those areas so have fewer maternity users from that community. Say there are three hospitals that take about 30% of the community and then two others take about 10% between them. I am now in one that takes some of that 10%.

There were several options.

I rekon these women are no more anxious to free their underarms (/clavicles / calves) than I am to free my nips.
In fact, thinking about it, my husband could pick up my son in just his gym shorts - might raise a few eyebrows but if I tried it the police would be called. So, in that regard, they're actually less sexist as what's sauce for the barechested goose is sauce for the barechested gander.
(Initially I was pleased to have a thread where I could work the word "antidiestablishmentarianism" into my reply but then my thoughts went elsewhere!)

Hmm...that's a good point. It reminds me a little of the comedy series I quite enjoyed, We Are Lady Parts (4 Muslim girls form a punk band, based on the writer's own life) where a running joke is that the MC is stricter about religion than her mother is. It seemed unlikely to me but maybe not..
At the extreme end, The US Muslim author Musa al-Gharbi (author of the excellent We Have Never Been Woke, a book on how woke status-signalling is unhelpful to the people it claims to help) has written that dangerously fanatical Muslims who are ripe for radicalisation tend to come from less-religious homes.
On a less worrying level, I've read similar about young men who become 'orthobros' and obsessed with being Orthodox Christian in a very nerdy way, often with manosphere & Putin influences, then go to church and find they're in a much more moderate environment with Greek families who see it more as practice than theory.

I guess the danger now is that with the Internet young people can go down rabbit holes much more easily..

It seems that White = English/Welsh/Scottish? So everyone not of British Isles heritage would not be considered white. Immigrants to the USA that weren't British weren't considered white at first, some even went to court to get "white" status under law (Germans, Irish, Jews, Italians, later (around 1900) also Japanese and Chinese).

City in the midlands, has been very multicultural for as long as I can remember. When I was a child in the 50s very Irish and Polish. I think the next wave was West Indian, then Indian, then Pakistani. Also some Italians, Maltese and Cypriots along the way.

We had a girl join my class when I was about 10, bit of a sensation as her family was English which was pretty unique.

That sounds like it was nice- funny that an English girl was a sensation!...a bit like where I live, strong Indian community, also Poles from WW2 (my grandfather was one) and some West Indians.
Hopefully that kind of atmosphere can return to more places one day...

Anything which proclaims about the 'best' or 'right' way to conduct oneself or society is moral in nature.

I assumed the discharge before Shabbos would be about transport home. Isn't driving not allowed by Orthodox or Heradi Jews on the Shabbos? So women could be stuck. I might be wrong but I was told, by a Jewish friend, that she and her family lived within walking distance of the synagogue for that reason