thoughts on gender neutral uniforms?
Keeping in mind today’s ethos globally, the voice of girls and women is getting bolder and stronger, which is why schools are rethinking their choices of different attire for girls and boys!
They are opting for gender-neutral uniforms, which resonate with the global trend of treating boys and girls equally.
Now let us look at the practicality, functionality, and design aesthetic of both the sides.
On the functionality bit, the trousers are better suited and considered more comfortable/safe by some parents, especially during the winter.
This trend was brought on by the international schools which started here in India, by giving a very casual, live-in look of a t-shirt and shorts as a uniform for the students. For sure a tee shirt is super comfortable and pocket-friendly, at the outset but what about durability and maintenance?
These IB and Cambridge curriculum schools are what the other schools are aspiring to be and hence blindly follow them sometimes. As a trickle-down effect, the schools that want to be known as progressive want to adopt the same uniforms, without thinking of their local HERITAGE and the mindset of the parents.
Firstly, t-shirts compared to woven uniforms have a shorter life span and do not wear out as well as compared to their woven counterparts.
Secondly, it does not look crisp and fresh.
Thirdly India being a leading exporter of textiles and garments can and should have the best in quality and style in school uniforms, as it is their manufacturing home ground. The Western world must import them and thus have limitations in price, quality, and design.
I hope that more people realize this and work to optimize our local resources and talent rather than just aping the West blindly.
Now one might wonder, how has the uniform dress code remained different for boys and girls all these years, especially for schools?
By creating a gender-neutral uniform, can we brainwash century-old images and the role of women in our society, and to some extent in quite a few societies globally?
And if a girl and a boy were the same then why are they physically and psychologically different?
Nature has made them this way…… the yin and the yang, Adam and Eve, the ancient wisdom in the far eastern cultures, the half-women and half-man image of Shiv is only to portray that both male and female are the two sides of the same coin and one without the other doesn’t work and that one completes the other.
So, they are equal but different.
We should celebrate the difference and accept it for what it is meant to be.
This means in thinking and in philosophy and thus in the outer layers like the clothing where an individual expresses himself/herself should be a personal choice and appropriately so.
A girl’s body is different from a boy’s, so how can they be wearing the same clothes?
Yes, we can give them choices but why mandate something which doesn’t suit their against their body type, it’s a rather personal choice and a part of their gender orientation.
For instance, a bigger girl with high body mass will never be comfortable in a pair of trousers. For her, the best choice will be a free-flowing skirt that only hugs her at the waist.
Design aesthetics will tell you a completely different story.
Since the girls have a more curvaceous body, they look far better in so many flattering silhouettes and shapes which look extremely pleasing to the eyes.
To sum up I would like to endorse a different dress code for school uniforms for boys and girls.
Visually and in functionality ,it is more exciting and suitable for their respective body types.
The boys can wear what they have been wearing traditionally i.e.
a shirt or t-shirt with shorts and chinos and the girls in no fuss one-piece frock for the kindergartners and a simple skirt and a shirt or a t-shirt.
They can all have common gender-neutral pieces too in the form of sports kit, blazers or jackets and shirts.
