Should school uniform policy be gender-neutral?

Monday 10 October 2016

A local deputy is calling for a shake-up of school uniform policy to enable trans children to feel more included.

St Brelade Deputy Montfort Tadier is raising the issue in the States Assembly this week. He's asking the Education Minister whether there is a policy for non-gender-specific clothes so students who wish to wear uniforms not traditionally associated with their birth gender can do so.

He told Express about how the recent Pride event inspired him to consider the issue.

“It was brought forward when I was helping out the Reform Jersey stall along with Unite. A group of students came up to us to talk about it, and one started to ask me about it. They identified as transgender, and didn't feel that they specifically identified with their assigned uniform,” he said.

Feeling out of place in the uniform of their birth gender, the Deputy detailed how this led to “difficulties” at school.

As a result, he wants to “make schools more aware” and hopes that the Education Minister will introduce a policy “that is more sensible and sensitive to students’ needs."

Under such a policy, all female-identifying students - including those born genetically male - would be eligible to wear skirts and dresses, while those born female, but wishing to identify otherwise would be allowed to wear trousers.

This news follows the announcement in June that 80 UK schools had adopted gender-neutral uniform policies as part of a government-backed drive to better support LGBT+ children. Such schools have removed references to girls and boys, allowing pupils - some as young as five - to dress in the uniform in which they feel most comfortable.

The UK Government website currently states that school uniforms “must not discriminate based on gender, race, disability, sexual orientation or belief”; the States of Jersey site, however, contains no such instruction.

Upon investigation of Jersey’s 16 secondary schools’ websites, Express found that 10 stipulated separate dress codes for girls and boys, while all four single-sex schools required their students to dress traditionally.

Just two schools - Granville and Hautlieu - claimed that all students should wear trousers.

Of the 22 Island primary schools listing required uniform items online, just four did not make reference to gender. It is unknown, however, whether this is part of an inclusiveness policy.

Deputy Tadier added: “It’s one thing to support equality, but the practical side in schools and businesses has to be addressed.”