CIARA LIKE A BOY GENDER ROLES FREE

вЂњWe should definitely have the option,вЂќ of trousers says a pragmatic second-year at Muckross Park College, an all-girls school in Donnybrook in Dublin. What do girls think of obligatory skirts? ItвЂ™s exacerbated by IrelandвЂ™s preponderance of single-sex schools, unusual internationally, and by complex and sometimes disturbing perceptions of femininity. While a growing number of Irish schools allow girls to wear trousers, many secondary schools appear to stick with traditional notions of what is appropriate for young women, whereas some primary schools have adapted to demands for more comfort, sometimes after pupil agitation.

CIARA LIKE A BOY GENDER ROLES FREE

It brings me back to an abiding memory of school: the misery of chill winds, bare legs exposed in mid-winter, the constraints on free movement to save my blushes вЂ“ and the world from the sight of my knickers. This was well BC (Before Covid) but with schools back at last and facing into winter, the issue will emerge again.

Speaking to their principal later however, she says the issue of trousers hasnвЂ™t been raised. TheyвЂ™re not even allowed thermal vests if they show above their blouses, they say.

They donвЂ™t, and theyвЂ™re regularly freezing, they tell me, affronted at the injustice. Sheltering at the Luas stop together, I wonder if the girls, who seem smart, fun and well-behaved вЂ“ from Loreto Foxrock, their crests say вЂ“ have the choice of trousers in their uniforms. Walking behind them you can almost see the goosebumps on their legs from 20 paces as the wind whips at the edges of their maroon uniforms. ItвЂ™s a dirty day raining, cold, blustery. The large huddle of schoolgirls are coming out of the National Museum at Collins Barracks after a visit earlier this year. While a growing number of schools offer a choice of trousers, the majority of girls in secondary schools are stuck with the traditional skirt

Ciara like a boy gender roles