Parents defend Sydney principal from conservative attacks over gender-neutral uniforms
Image: Photo: Facebook / Santa Sabina College.
Parents at Sydney’s Santa Sabina College have defended principal Dr Maree Herrett from conservative attacks over the school’s new uniform.
The Catholic school’s new uniform code offers options including shorts or trousers for girls, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.
Conservative Christians and media figures have attacked the new dress code after it was announced earlier this month.
Dr Herrett said the change was not due to gender politics, but acknowledged that “there has always been a variety of ways of expressing your femininity or your masculinity”, and if students are struggling with gender “it might make that journey a little more comfortable”.
Columnist Miranda Devine last week called the principal’s comments “cultural Marxism”.
Facebook group Christian Lives Matter accused Dr Herrett of “pushing gender fluidity on young girls” by allowing them to wear pants.
Affronted parents and community members held a meeting last week to address the uniform issue.
Some have reportedly threatened to pull their children out of Santa Sabina over the new uniform policy.
Other parents say the rumours of outrage are overblown, calling the uniform change a “non-issue” and Dr Herrett an “outstanding” school leader.
Richard Aedy said he was surprised to see the new uniform being conflated with gender issues.
“Dr Herrett’s not saying ‘come to Santa Sabina and become a boy’, it’s more, ‘if gender identity is something you’re struggling with, this option might help you feel a bit better’,” he said.
“Charity surely extends to providing the most supportive environment to a young woman who is grappling with an issue like gender identity.”
Numerous other parents have reportedly contacted the media to express their support for the school.
School board chair Tony Woods said Dr Herrett had their full support, describing the negative coverage as a “campaign of misinformation which is obviously part of a broader agenda existing beyond our gates and our college community”.
“Whilst we respect the views of the broader community, we do not accept the actions of those who have hijacked the dialogue for other purposes,” Woods said.
I know what will solve the clothing issue, just were nothing and be as naked as the day God made you! Honestly in 2018 there is an issue to what people wear? My mother wore trousers in 1969 – SHOCK HORROR!
Female nurses in hospitals have been wearing pants for years – it’s a practical thing!
And Celtic men have been wearing kilts for centuries!!
Lighten up, everybody!!
My daughter attended a public school (recent!) which had to adhere to Abbott’s 1950’s, “girls in potato-sacks” style. She didn’t like it & it was a male-demanded bunch of BS.
Face it- women are dressed for men, by men. I’m sick of sugar coating this BS.
That is a ridiculous idea. I gotta say, I’m with ’em – and I never thought I’d say that about ANY conservative POV. Do away with ‘uniformity’ in dress code altogether. Let children make up their own daily minds and moods as to what they want to wear to school. It’s the burgeoning of creativity, identity and individuality in any case. To make a gender neutral ‘uniform’ makes our entire case for gender identity redundant – right through our most crucial developmental years. It is not about shifting one pile of sand to another and calling it equal rights, it’s about doing away with conformity, and even uniformity, altogether in order for each child, each human, to develop a sense of identity they feel truly comfortable with and then having that validated by peers and the greater community – including our LGBTQI community. Yeah, I can see how Levine would see this as Marxist – even having to wear a uniform in 2018, which in essence is a nod to British Empire of yesteryear. Ditch the uniform, celebrate our right to wear whatever we feel expresses our inner self – however each day defines it.
Girls wearing pants is not making anything “gender neutral”. It’s just normal for girls to wear pants and shorts. It’s not even new.
The extent to which people are determined to make this far more political than it should be is pretty sad.
Also, uniformity is not bad in schools because the inevitable alternative is that every day becomes some sort of fashion show and it’s just a distraction from actual learning. It’s simply a practical thing. Not every school agrees, sure, but it’s why a lot of them go with uniforms.
“Christian Lifes Matter ‘ wish to have our girls NOT wear shorts or trousers. But I wonder how many of the females in thier group do so as adults?
I could guess that 99.99999% do !! It comes down to ‘do as I say, not as I do’
“wearing shorts and trousers is promoting Gender fluidity” Yes it is, and should be promoted, it promotes understanding of the other gender, as should boys be allowed to wear dresses and skirts. IT should promote equality with others.
Dave, impressed by your gratitude to Devine who is certainly not devine in any shape or form other than her surname. Who would have thought conservatives could be so small — obviously us.
Thinking back decades to my days growing up, our local high school let girls wear pants and shorts as long as they complied with the colour and general-good-taste requirements of the school.
Seemed normal to me. Who knew they were pushing gender fluidity and cultural Marxism? Who knew Marx even had views on girls’ uniforms?
I obviously grew up in a far more revolutionary and radical suburb than I realised. And the locals managed to disguise their extremism by electing the Liberal candidate each election! What a scandal, I now realise.
Thank goodness Miranda Devine is here to explain it all clearly to me, albeit decades later.