Victory For Mum Who Challenged Female School Uniform That Her Daughter Had To Wear
- Publish date
- Tuesday, 17 May 2016, 11:09AM
Melbourne mum Simone Cariss, who petitioned her six-year-old daughter Asha’s school to let her wear pants instead of a dress so she can run, jump and climb like the boys, says the school has caved to public pressure and agreed to change its uniform rules.
Earlier, the Catholic school in Melbourne had refused Simone’s request for her daughter to wear pants as part of the winter uniform instead of the regulation wool tunic, a restriction Simone says affected her daughter on a practical level by preventing her from being as active as she’d like to be, but also sent a subtler message of ‘difference’ - that she can’t - or shouldn’t - do everything the boys can do.
So Simone felt their was only one thing left to do; raise awareness of the inequity.
“My daughter, like many other girls, simply wants the choice to wear pants like half her peers, with the warmth and freedom to be active at school and travelling,” Simone wrote on a change.org petition last Friday, that has since attracted over 3000 signatures. “Dresses disadvantage girls like my daughter who want to play footy, run, climb and ride a bike to school. The boys get to wear pants and shorts, which facilitates these activities far better than a dress.”
“The purpose of this petition is for policy-makers to stand up and legislate that all schools that require students to wear a uniform must offer options that don’t discriminate based on gender. What is offered to one student should be offered to all. So, for my daughter, if she wants to wear a dress she can but is not forced to. If she wants to wear pants/shorts she has the choice (not just on sports days). And this needs to NOT be at the discretion of individual schools”.
Simone first raised her complaint on the Facebook page of parenting expert and psychologist Steve Biddulph in April.
It gained a lot of attention and now as a result of the petition, the school will be reviewing the uniform.
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