Roughly forty schools in the United Kingdom have banned girls from wearing skirts to make schools more inclusive of transgender students.
At least eight secondary schools in Ipswich have “trouser-only” policies according to an analysis that was reported to the Independent.
At one High School, Copleston High School, skirts have been placed on the list of unacceptable items of clothing and all students have been asked to wear “plain grey trousers.”
At another school, Priory school, in Lewes in East Sussex skirts were banned after students questioned why boys and girls should wear different uniforms.
“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 and Celebrate, an LGBT charity is one of the groups behind the reform of student uniforms.
“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 policy was conducted just as the United Kingdom launched a public consultation of the 2004 Gender Recognition Act, which allows transgender people to be legally recognized.