Letter: The trouble with trousers

Saturday 12 June 1999 23:02 BST

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CLAIRE HALE should not waste her own or the Whickham Comprehensive's funds on legal fees ("Girl pupil challenges ban on trousers", 6 June). The governors of our local comprehensive decided 20 years ago that, since the Muslim community expects that girls will keep their legs covered in public, it would be discriminatory to maintain the school rule on insisting on skirts.

Professor Hale (and any other parent likewise facing Victorian attitudes) should simply advise the school's governors that she is referring the matter to the appropriate discrimination bodies; it seems unlikely that the governing body of an LEA school will wish to risk being branded and prosecuted for race and (perhaps) sex discrimination.

G C SUDBURY

Winchester

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Letter: The trouble with trousers

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