Girls Just Wanna Wear Trousers: NI Students Granted Legal Right to a Choice in Uniform

by Alexandra Lloyd

Throughout the last few weeks, have you noticed that the roads seem a little busier? Have you found the buses awfully packed, or the Tesco meal deals especially scarce? It could only mean one thing… it’s back to school season!

However, as thousands of secondary school students return to their classrooms, something has changed. For many female students, the last time they ever have to pull on their school skirts and pray that one pair of flimsy tights can protect them from the bitter cold of a winter’s morning may well have passed. This is because, for the first time ever, uniform policy in NI will be governed not by schools, but by law.

From the start of the next school year all female students in Northern Ireland will have the legal right to decide if they would like to wear trousers in school. This new and unprecedented legislation comes as part of the School Uniforms Act, which aims to make uniforms more affordable, practical, sustainable and comfortable [1].

Yes, you read that right. Although generations of female students and professionals have voiced concerns about school skirts, change is only happening in 2026.

Well, just about. This legislation was not initially approved by Minister of Education Paul Givan. In 2025, when the School Uniform Act was first released to the public, the minister, embodying a modern-day Pontius Pilate, declared that all girls were now allowed to challenge their schools on the choice of wearing trousers or skirts – job done, then! But it’s okay, because he said his own daughters wear skirts to school too, so we can rest easy knowing that when it comes to female autonomy, Mr. Givan doesn’t play favourites.

Nonetheless, resilient as ever, female voices from across the country continued to rally, making it clear that this was just not going to cut it. After much campaigning from members of the education system, students and parents, the message was clear – girls want to wear trousers to school. Eventually, almost a year on from the initial release of the School Uniforms Act, Givan has done a U-turn, declaring that the Department of Education will grant girls the legal right to wear trousers in school.

Historically, female students in NI have had no choice on their uniform policy. Before the School Uniforms Act, school uniform policy was self-governed, with the school having the final say on what students could and could not wear to school. This approach was critiqued by students and parents for an abundance of reasons, from costly branded uniforms that needed to be repurchased frequently to satisfy the needs of growing students, to sweaty, uncomfortable blazers piling onto an already colossal list of things they carry with them throughout the school day.

Perhaps the biggest gripe of all, however, was with the impracticality of skirts, and the inability to have a say in what students could wear. Some students have discussed such infeasibilities with the Irish Times [2]:

“You can’t cycle in the skirt, especially if it’s windy, so students cycle in tracksuits and change at school. It’s a pain bringing your skirt and changing in the loos.”

Another student highlighted how the uniform discouraged girls from movement during break periods:

“At lunchtimes boys play basketball, girls decide not to because it’s uncomfortable.”

Other students discussed how their school skirts restricted their movement and left them constantly worrying about how they were sitting, or living in fear of a ‘Marilyn Monroe moment‘ on a windy day. Others emphasised how their uniform created unnecessary stress around the time of their period, as well as the fact that skirts are not appropriate clothing for the weather throughout most of the year in the UK and Ireland [3].

Overall, this change is undoubtedly a step in the right direction for Northern Ireland, albeit delayed in comparison to the much more progressive policies enforced across the UK [4]. While it can at times seem that local news is nothing but a powerhouse of negativity and fear-mongering, the younger generation have well and truly taken the wheel by successfully campaigning for change that is more inline with their progressive attitudes and values. Reportedly, students today are much more open on key social issues such as abortion, LGBTQIA+ rights and divorce [5]. This is a reflection of our society becoming more comfortable with difference, and less dictated by archaic belief systems that have governed Northern Irish culture for far too long.

Therefore, this seemingly small change to uniform policy can be understood as a microcosm of a wider cultural shift. Allowing girls the freedom to choose whether to wear trousers or skirts challenges one degree of separation in the division and constraint of pupils by gender through uniforms. Young people today would rather get on with things than dwell on our differences any longer, and hopefully now we are one step closer to doing so.

References

1. Department of Education. “School Uniform Legislation.” 2025. https://www.education-ni.gov.uk/articles/school-uniform-legislation

2. Falvey, Deirdre. “Why do we force girls to wear skirts to school?” The Irish Times. September 12, 2020. https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/why-do-we-force-girls-to-wear-skirts-to-school-1.4343921

3. Mandeville, Adam. “NI education: Girls given right to wear trousers to school.” BBC News. September 11, 2026. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czxzw9117k5o

4. Meredith, Robbie. “School uniforms: Northern Ireland policy ‘an outlier’.” BBC News. [online] April 18, 2024. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-68840505

5. Carty, Ed. Ireland’s young people “tolerant, socially active and socially aware.” Belfast Telegraph. April 24th, 2017. Available at: https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/republic-of-ireland/irelands-young-people-tolerant-socially-active-and-socially-aware/a/116961508.html