A Sydney mum has won a discrimination claim for her daughters to be allowed to wear pants and shorts at school.

It was when students were required to switch to winter uniform at John Palmer Public School in The Ponds in Sydney’s north-west that Melissa Mibus started her campaign.

She allowed her daughters to wear pants instead of the traditional tunic for the uniform change over, leading to her daughters to be targeted by bullies and teased.

The determined mum took her fight to the NSW Anti-Discrimination Board who introduced her to a not-for-profit law and policy organisation called the Public Interest Advocacy Group (PIAG).

Together they made the claim to the school that not having a gender-neutral uniform option was discriminatory.

The school ended up reluctantly agreeing to change their uniform policy which means female students will be given the option of wearing trousers and shorts instead of just the winter tunics and summer dresses.

“I’m very pleased John Palmer has changed its uniform policy to include pants and shorts for girls, but I would like it to go further,” she said told the Daily Telegraph.

As a result of her campaign the school has now officially changed their school uniform policy, publishing the following statement on their website:

“Pants and shorts are now an available option for girls as part of the official standard school uniform at John Palmer Public School.

A survey will be circulated in Term 2, Week 2, for school community consultation on what the new additions to the uniform will be from Term 1, 2018. It is anticipated that these additional items will be available for purchase from Term 4, 2017.

In the interim, girls are permitted to wear navy blue pants and white shirt (winter) and navy blue shorts and white shirt (summer) until the additional items to the standard uniform are available.”

While the traditional options for girls and boys are still listed, the school has now added gender-neutral options for both summer and winter.

Should this be something all schools implement?

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