At least 40 schools in the U.K. have banned girls from wearing skirts, mostly to be more inclusive of transgender and non-binary pupils, according to an analysis of uniform policies across the country.
At least eight secondary schools in Ipswich have a “trouser-only” policy for its pupils,
according to the analysis, Independent reported.
At Copleston High School, skirts have been added to the list of unacceptable items of clothing and all pupils have been asked to wear “plain grey trousers.”
In Lewes in East Sussex, Priory School banned skirts after students questioned why boys and girls should wear different uniforms, arguing that transgender pupils must be taken into account, according to The Sunday Times.
Woodhey High School in Bury has a different reason for banning skirts, which it insists are “undignified and embarrassing” for staff and visitors especially because girls sit on the floor for assembly and some classes.
“Why would we define our children by the clothes they wear? We still have the same uniform, we simply removed all references to gender in our uniform policy,” Jamie Barry, headteacher of Parson Street Primary School in Bristol, was quoted as saying earlier by local media.
Educate & Celebrate, an LGBT charity, is one of the groups behind the banning of skirts. “We are ensuring that all students are represented within the curriculum, enabling well-being and full participation,” the charity’s founder, Dr. Elly Barnes, was quoted as saying earlier. “Removing the association of ‘boys’ or ‘girls’ with particular clothes in a school uniform policy may not change the way students dress but it could be a huge deal to young people who don’t identify as a boy or a girl.”
The analysis of uniform policies was done as the U.K. Government launches a public consultation of the 2004 Gender Recognition Act, which allowed trans people to be legally recognized, to reform the Gender Recognition Certificate system, which currently recognizes trans people only if they are diagnosed with a mental illness.
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Source: Christian Post
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