Editing School uniform (section)

===Perceptions of masculinity and femininity===
One of the criticisms of uniforms is that it imposes standards of masculinity and femininity from a young age. Uniforms are considered a form of discipline that schools use to control student behavior and often promote conventional gendered dress.<ref>Connell, R. W. "Teaching the Boys: New Research on Masculinity, and Gender Strategies for Schools". ''Teachers College Record'' 98:2 (1996): 206-235. 31 March 2015.</ref><ref name="Happel, Alison 2013">Happel, Alison. "Ritualized girling: school uniforms and the compulsory performance of gender." ''Journal of Gender Studies'' 22:1 (2013): 92-96. 1 April 2015.</ref>

Boys often are required to wear trousers, belts, and closed-toe shoes and have their shirts tucked in at all times. They are also often required to have their hair cut short. Some critics allege that this uniform is associated with the dress of a professional business man, which, they claim, gives boys at a young age the impression that masculinity is gained through business success.<ref>Craik, J. (2007). "Uniforms Exposed: The Proliferation of Uniforms in Popular Culture as Markers of Change and Identity." Uniformierungen in Bewegung. Ed. Gabreile Mentges, Dagmar Neuland-Kitzerow, and Birgit Richard. Munster: Waxmann Verlag. 7-53.</ref>

For girls, many uniforms promote femininity by requiring girls to wear skirts. Skirts are seen by some critics as a symbol of femininity because they restrict movement and force certain ways of sitting and playing.<ref name="Happel, Alison 2013" /> Uniforms that include an [[apron]] for girls may suggest that the appropriate feminine societal role is a primarily domestic one. Some girls' school uniforms have been criticized as having an uncomfortable design, which prevents girls from freedom of movement and exposes girls to cold during winter.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2017/mar/06/sexist-school-uniform-rules-trousers-girls |title=Not wearing the trousers: why do some schools still have sexist uniform rules? |first=Hadley |last=Freeman |date=6 March 2017 |access-date=11 February 2019 |work=The Guardian |location= London}}</ref>

School uniforms are embedded with gender symbolism. Schools that require students to wear a formal uniform almost universally provide trousers for boys and skirts or dresses for girls{{Citation needed|date=March 2023}}. Skirts differentiate the female from the male, thereby confirming traditional gender identities for students who must wear the correct attire corresponding to their sex. Skirts and dresses demand a particular type of feminine gender performance, whereas trousers demand a particular masculine gender performance. By forcing students to wear attire that corresponds with their sex inherently assigns the ways a student must perform their gender. This causes controversy when a student does not want to identify with a gender that does not align with their sex. There are rarely guidelines that allow for students to dress according to their performed gender, but almost always according to their sex assigned at birth.<ref name="deakin.edu.au">Bennett, Susan (2015).  [https://web.archive.org/web/20220222161613/https://dro.deakin.edu.au/eserv/DU:30081641/bennett-genderrelations-2016A.pdf "Gender Relations in Elite Coeducational Schools."] PhD diss., Deakin University (Victoria, Australia).</ref>{{page number needed|date=January 2020}}