choice Archives - Girls' Uniform Agenda

Freedom of Uniform Choice Begins With Us!

By admin13/02/2019Blogchoice, girls voices, shorts

Guest blog from our NSW Girls Uniform Rep, Karina McDougall We talk a lot about schools and policymakers offering girls a choice to wear shorts and pants with their uniform. But what about when schools offer that choice to girls, but parents deny their daughters the freedom to exercise that choice? Take for example this conversation which took place in the uniform shop of one school this week: Daughter: Mum I want some shorts! Mum: No you have dresses. I’ll buy you the shirt

The Long and Skort of it

By Amy Blain07/11/2018Blogactive girls, choice, culottes, shorts, shorts and pants, skort

Skorts are not shorts; culottes are not pants. Seems obvious, but some schools still resist offering the more practical, affordable and comfortable shorts and pants options for girls. The perfect uniform choices for boys are somehow unsuitable for girls. Let’s face it – the skort and culottes are often preferred by schools because they look like skirts. They often do look like a skirt, and are only slightly more functional. They can be flimsy, floppy

School Uniform Shift Gives Girls the Freedom to Move

By admin26/10/2018Blogactive girls, arguments, change agents, choice, exercise, girls voices, physical activity, private girls school, shorts

Radio Interview Transcript: Patricia Karvelas on RN Drive talking to Principal Elizabeth Rhodes, Lowther Hall Anglican Grammar School Melbourne. School Uniform Shift Gives Girls the Freedom to Move Presenter: Haha, the playground where kids get to run around, play games, burn off all the excess energy at recess and lunchtime. That’s the idea anyway, but some schools are finding that’s not the case for every kid, especially girls feeling restricted by their uniforms. That’s why one

Private Girls’ Schools and Limiting Uniforms

By Amanda Mergler18/09/2018Blogchoice, private girls school, private school

Anyone who has looked into what is on offer at private girls’ schools knows that these schools situate themselves as leaders in girl specific education. To them, this means embracing, enhancing, supporting, and nurturing girls. Creating leaders, do-ers, girls with determination, girls who challenge disadvantage, and girls who are involved in social justice. More recently, these schools outline the ways in which they embrace gender equality, and teach girls to do the same. Private School Promises Take for example the

Girls Have A Right to Education Free From Discrimination

By Amy Blain06/08/2018Blog, Case Studiesactivism, change agents, choice, discrimination, shorts and pants

One parent’s fight, backed by the Anti-Discrimination Board, for her daughters’ rights to have the choice of wearing shorts and pants to school. Missy M’s three daughters were very cold and uncomfortable in their dress uniform. So, Missy asked the school principal if shorts and long pants for girls could be added to the uniform list. Missy tells her story below: “She [the principal] said no, just like that, a straight, flat out no! I then

Power In The Collective: Girls Speaking Up

By Simone Cariss18/05/2018Blogactive girls, activism, campaign, change agents, choice, girl power, girls voices, school girls

Last year I wrote a piece about boys in the UK controversially wearing skirts to school in defiance of a strict dress code. It was hot and they were told they could not wear shorts, only long pants. So, collectively, they took a stand and all wore skirts to school. They made international news. Lone Uniform Warriors Back then, I commented that rarely do we see girls standing together in solidarity in the same way. Particularly in the school

American girls wear shorts and pants at school. How much longer for Australian school girls?

By Amanda Mergler08/05/2018Blogchoice, decades, shorts and pants

“Who is old enough to remember…when girls could not wear pants to school?” The question on this Facebook post frustrated me; we know that anyone alive today in Australia is old enough to remember this, it still happens. After digging a little deeper, I realised the post had originated in America, and the majority of the comments underneath were from Americans. While America still has a small number of schools that do enforce uniform, most American schools do not.

Prizewinning: Judge Us On Ability, Not On Dress

By Amy Blain24/02/2018Blog, Case Studieschoice, formal uniform, girls voices

Your daughter’s about to go on stage for her public school’s awards’ ceremony, everyone should be excited. Except they’re not, a daughter in tears, an exasperated mother and a principal bursting with anger. This story shows that even when schools offer uniform choice, the shaming, guilt and pressure on girls to conform to gender expectations is ever-present. And girls’ appearance can still outweigh ability. When schools offer choice – it needs to be authentic and

Tag Archives: choice