UK school bans girls from wearing skirts to make uniform gender neutral

A secondary school in the UK has banned girls from
wearing skirts in a bid to make its uniform gender
neutral and deal with complaints over the "decency"
of short skirts.
Priory School in Lewes, east Sussex, has announced
that starting from this autumn term, all new
students must wear trousers, while returning
students have the option to wear either trousers or
skirts.
Tony Smith, the schools headmaster, said he bought
in the change because pupils had been questioning
why the uniform ascribed certain garments to boys
and others to girls.
"Pupils have been saying why do boys have to
where ties and girls dont, and girls have different
uniform to boys," he was quoted as saying by The
Telegraph.
"So, we decided to have the same uniform for
everybody from Year 7. Another issue was that we
have a small but increasing number of transgender
students and therefore having the same uniform is
important for them," he said.
COMPLAINTS OVER LENGTH OF SCHOOL SKIRTS
There had also been complaints from the wider
community about the length of school skirts, so this
was another factor in the decision to ban them
altogether.
"We know the current uniform is not necessarily
worn as respectfully as it should be. There were
problems with decency and a number of issues
raised by people in the community about how
students were wearing uniform," Smith was quoted
as saying.
The school's website states that from September all
new Priory students will be required to wear the
updated uniform.
"This uniform has been designed specifically in
response to the many issues and suggestions raised
by parents, students and school staff. Specifically, it
addresses the current issues of inequality and
decency," the school says on its website.
"We hope that it will provide a smart, comfortable
and affordable alternative to the current uniform.
The new update consists of shirt, tie, school jumper
and trousers. This is a gender-neutral uniform to be
worn by all students," it says.
RESPONSE TO THE CHANGE
The response to the change from parents and
students was divided, with some agreeing with it,
while others voicing their opposition.
"My daughter and her friends are appalled by this.
The school is creating a hostile environment for
girls," a parent was quoted as saying.
Another parent said, "My daughter said she has got
a gender and its female, so being gender neutral
when she has got a gender is a big deal for her, as
she is proud to be a girl. I feel girls should be
allowed to wear skirts if they want to."
Meanwhile, some parents said they supported the
move. "Im not in favour of uniform at all, but if
youre going to have a uniform I think it is great its
gender neutral," a mother said.

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