11 NOVEMBER 2015

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Yesterday it emerged that a school in Hartlepool has sent letters home to parents that asked girls to wear tights to ‘protect their modesty’ and make sure they are ‘properly safeguarded on their way to and from school’. St Hild’s school specified they should be opaque tights, no less than 40 denier, and expressed concern over the length of some girls’ skirts.

CEO of the Fawcett Society, Sam Smethers, said: “Girls and young women are being asked to change their behaviour and modify the way they dress and here is yet another example. That’s just not acceptable in 2015.

“It’s fine for schools to have a uniform and a dress code, but let’s see them apply it equally to boys and girls.

“Modesty and safeguarding don’t come into it. What they should be focussing on is opening up a world of opportunity to their young women, not controlling what they wear.”