School brings in trousers only rule for all pupils - schoolgirls said to be in tears ...

[IwantToRetire]

Schoolgirls have been left "in tears" after a controversial new uniform rule was enforced at the start of the school year, with furious parents claiming some pupils were stopped from attending lessons.

The row has erupted after Co-op Academies Trust introduced a trousers-only policy across its secondary schools from September.
Some families have refused to accept the change, with pupils at Co-op Academy Failsworth in Oldham arriving for their first day back on Wednesday wearing skirts.

Parents claim that a number of Year 11 girls were not allowed into class, with other pupils affected when they returned on Thursday.

The policy also applies at Co-op Academy Walkden, Co-op Academy Swinton, Co-op Academy North Manchester, Co-op Academy Manchester and Co-op Academy Belle Vue.

Full article https://www.aol.co.uk/articles/schoolgirls-tears-being-turned-away-100800000.html

Well some women/girls may feel that way, clearly some do, just as some boys wouldn’t like to if forced to wear a skirt, even if they e.g. may wear a kilt in other situations doesn’t mean they’d be happy being forced to wear a grey school skirt. What’s the justification for not giving people a choice???

This!

For exactly this reason, as well as others, I expect this is potentially indirect sex discrimination (have just been reading the EHRC guidance on exactly this)

People keep talking about girls having their "arse" on show. I have never seen this. You'd have to be wearing a very short skirt indeed to display someone's behind.

I'm not really averse to trousers (I rarely wear skirts) but the one objection I can see is that if you're wearing a sanitary towel it can be visible through trousers in the way it isn't in a skirt.

And there really ought to be a decent alternative for the summer - trousers are unbearably hot in warm weather, so there should be an option to wear a summer dress.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5575821-ehrc-consultation-schools-technical-guidance

Oh not this again.

in tears?! Goodness. Loads of women wear trousers everyday. No issue. Much easier for schools not having to police the underwear on show by the girls that roll their skirts up so high.

one poster mentioned it’s about boys not behaving. It’s not. It’s not about boys. They’ve done nothing wrong. The girls are not “behaving” by not following the uniform rules. If they followed the rules then they wouldn’t have to wear trousers would they.

I do think it’s a stupid rule but a health risk, Jesus Christ, get a grip

Have you been near a secondary school recently?!

and a summer dress?! Really. It’s the teeniest tiniest boob tube type skirts worn round here with bum cheeks and knickers on show. And likely a san towel if that’s in place too.

Women are not being erased. However, they are being asked to conform to traditional male behaviour in a way that men NEVER are. As I said earlier, unisex always means women being allowed to wear/do men’s stuff. Never the other way round.

I was s teacher until recently. Yes it is not pleasant walking upstairs behinf girls with skirts rolled up ridiculously /you really don’t want to see that. Unpleasant for everyone. And since the hyperbolic ‘everyone’s invited’ we are not allowed to sanction this egregious infringement of uniform rules as the accusation is ‘you were looking at my legs you are a pervert’

Perhaps if the girls had worn their school skirts correctly, the school wouldn’t move to trousers only. Parents who don’t agree can always apply to a different school.

I would have hated this for periods. A skirt hides much more and feels much safer.

There is nothing male about wearing trousers - you never wear a pair of jeans?

It was never an issue when I was at school and any such girl replying as such would have been told to not be so ridiculous!

Why mandate all kids have to wear trousers and not skirts? Why is it automatically seen as easier to force the girls to conform and not the boys? That doesn’t seem very equal to me 🤷‍♀️

I'd like to see a poll on this whether people are pro or anti.

I am pro! Think it's a great idea IF it's been thought through properly, ie: shorts options which will work for girls in summer or a light fabric alternative.

I'm from a northern town with a high Muslim population so most girls at my school wore trousers anyway to cover up.

God, these endless, endless tedious arguments about uniforms.

Kids who can wear what they want generally don't choose micro mini skirts. Outside of school, they're all in saggy trackie bottoms.

Well if youve never seen this you've never driven or walked around local secondary schools, knickers and bums are clearly on show. Its purposeful. Its not an accident. And thats why the choice to wear them has been removed, simple. Teachers spend too much time dealing with shit.

Because its the girls not wearing their skirts properly. What is hard to get about this?

Culottes then, or skirts with mandatory modesty shorts underneath. That solves the trouser issue and prevents crotch visibility. The boys could wear them too if they want.

I can nearly guarantee that if uniforms were banned tomorrow, the girls would not wear skirts ever. How many teenage girls have you seen wearing knicker level skirts recently? They are all in wide legs, jeans or leggings. Do they think we are fools?

This objection to trousers is another stamping of foot thing. Wear the damn things or go to another school. Head is right, teachers are far too highly qualified to waste time telling girls to let their skirts down, come on now.

Why is OP debating that this is a boy problem? For once it genuinely isn’t! This is girls who want to rebel against uniform rules who have pushed it too far. It’s happened in my local area too, with exactly the same outcome. The intermediate step was a skirt designed to show when it was rolled and discourage rolling. They still did it. Play silly games, get silly prizes. Problem solved.

Some many Victorians out there. It has been pretty normalised for women to wear trousers for well over a century.

School girls wearing trousers isn't going to make them all catch "trans".

There is no trouser issue! And to be fair it is probably partly the crotch visibility problem that schools are trying to tackle by changing from skirts.

So what's the objection (and floods of bitter tears) to trousers instead of skirts on the girls?

Seriously, who cares. Better than having your skirt length measured by a male deputy head with a ruler, as happened at my kid's school only three years back. (He wasn't wearing a skirt that day, thank god. What a perv that DH was.)

School uniform is being standardised so it's cheaper. I remember when girls.were banned from.wearing trousers because it didn't look feminine enough, things are so much better now.