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Skirts in schools!
Why, oh why?
Guys: I'm sure most of you have seen girls freezing to death while waiting for the bus in their school uniforms. And girls: Most of you probably know how it feels! Why on earth should we be made go through that for 14 years of our lives? Why is nearly every schoolgirl in the country made to wear a skirt?
The first problem with skirts is that they are cold! The second problem is that they are impractical! I mean, what if we get attacked? Unfortunately, attacks do happen, and in a skirt you can't really run away very fast. Heck, it’s even hard to just run for the bus! The third issue with skirts is that they sexualise us and men keep looking at us!
One particular Irish school used to let girls wear trousers. They liked it that way. But then, in order to “improve the school’s image", they decided that the girls shouldn't be allowed to have the option of wearing trousers anymore. How would abandoning trousers improve their image? I really don't know. This change outraged students, but the staff did not care. Students were simply told that they "looked better in skirts". Not surprisingly, the principal and deputy principal were male.
The school also said that every other school was doing it, so why should they be different? Doesn’t that line sound familiar eh? And they tell us youths not to follow the crowd! They should start to practise what they preach!
I mentioned this story to some of my friends from non - uniform schools and they were shocked. They thought it was actually illegal to not allow students to wear trousers as part of a school uniform. I mean, why shouldn't girls have the option to wear trousers? Trousers still look neat, they're warmer and they're safer too! In this day and age, isn't it a woman’s basic right to have the choice? This is modern Ireland folks!
I personally have challenged many teachers about this issue and not ONE could come up with a good reason why we should be made to wear skirts. Other students told me that they would not bring up the issue because they said "What if we get in trouble?"or "What's the point, they're never going to listen to us". Seriously! This is an issue I feel very strongly about and I am sure many others do too.
Unfortunately, too many people just fob it off as a small inconvenience and say "Get over it." Seriously though, why should we have to put up with the freezing cold and the wolf whistling? I'm certainly not going to! Why won't schools change this? It's not a lot to ask! Together we can make anything happen!
By: DuBlIn GiRl
