Gender-neutral schooling: Boys told to wear skirts instead of shorts

If you can’t stand the heat, get out of your gender. That’s what a school in Oxfordshire, England, has told male students. Chiltern Edge Secondary School  The school introduced a gender-neutral uniform policy at the beginning of the academic year which permitted only trousers or skirts as leg wear.

Now when temperatures are soaring and trousers are uncomfortable, boys have been banned from wearing shorts. The school says the boys who don’t want to wear trousers must wear skirts.

Schools adopt gender-neutral policies to help transgender students because under the Equality Act they have a duty to protect transgender students from discrimination.

When Alastair Vince-Porteous, a parent, asked staff if his son could wear tailored shorts, the school said that they were not part of the uniform. The bemused father was then told that the uniform policy was ‘gender-neutral’ and boys could of course wear a skirt if they wished, Daily Mail reported. “I was told shorts are not part of the uniform. It’s a shame we can’t be more grown up about it. We aren’t asking for ra-ra skirts or skinny jeans, just grey tailored shorts for two months a year. It’s not a big deal,” Vince-Porteous said.

“I know that in the past other schools have worn skirts so I asked if my son was able to do that, and the school said ‘yes’,” another parent Joanne Muday said. “It’s nuts to make the kids wear blazers and ties when it gets very hot.”

A number of students at Chiltern Edge Secondary School come from Prime Minister Theresa May’s Maidenhead constituency. In a related development, the UK military has installed gender-neutral toilets at its headquarters. Two ‘ladies’ and ‘gentlemen’ signs were removed at its HQ in Andover, Hampshire, and changed to unisex ones.