*** girls' school uniform countries











Girls' School Uniforms: Countries

German school girls
Figure 1.--These two German primary girls are on their way to school. The photograph was taken on August 26, 1961 in Schapbach, a village 15 km from Freudenstadt, Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. At the time it was part of West Germany. The girls are wearing odentical plaid drsses, one with a sweater. Both girls wear pinafores. We can see that one of them is carrying her shoes rather than wearing them. Presumably she will put them on when she gets to school. It was not a matter of poverty, by 1961 the Germany Economic Miracle was fully underway. Rather it is likely that she preferred going barefoot.

The clothes girls wear to school vary around the world. We have begun to develop information on individual countries. Styles are less varied today than they once were, but we still see considerable difference from country to country. We have begun to develop information on individual countries. Country trends are affected by school regulations. Some girls attend schools with uniforms. Many countries do not require uniforms, but even here they are often wirn at private schools. We do not yet have much information on America. We do have an American girls gym page. Many schools have English-styled uniforms. We have also begun to work on England. England is particularly important because so many school uniform styles originated in England. They are of course most common in the British Empire countries, especially the Dominions. We note English styles are very common in South Africa. We note garments worn in other countries, but some have not held up as well as the English styles. We do not yet have a page Russia, but do have a pagge on Soviet dress and pinafores. We also have some information on India. School was only for boys in China until Wesrern missionaroes began opening schools. School wear in countries where uniforms are not so common are much more varied and of course provide insights into popular fashions.

Africa


South Africa

South African schools have also adopted the classic girls' uniform items worn by English girls. Of course, South Africa was a British colony and the the school system was established during the British colonial era. The garments include some of the items worn by boys like ties and blazerts. Others items are more gender specific. We are not sure about the headwear at this time. Girls at the schools requiring uniforms wear various styles of skirts and dresses. Often there is a seasonal change in dress styles. One of these is the gym slip, a British school standard. The gym slips the girls here are wearing are good examples (figure 1). They come in various colors. Americans might also call in a jumper, which in England means a sweater. Girls also wore dresses and skirts, some times with blazers. Notice the girls hear wear shirts and ties like the boys with the gym slips. Some schools also have kiklt-like pleated skirts. They are often worn with white shirts and ties like the gym slips. Many schools furing the summer change to light-weight, open collar cotton dresses. They are commonly done in check patterns available in several colors.

America, North


America

We have not yet developed much information on girls' schoolwear in America. Unlike Europe, American schools were coeducational at both the primary and secondary level. We have an extensive American school section, but it does not focus on the girls. Because of the coeducational approach, America became a leader in girls' education. We begin to see girls outnumbering boys in secondary schools years while boys dominated secondary education in Europe. There were no quotas. Te girls who showed up could attend. We have a vast archive of American school images so unlike many countries, we have a lot of material to work with. We see school images from an eraly point in Americ, especially nedhinning woth the 1870s. The school portrait was a well established tradition by the 1890s. Girls always wore dreses to school, often with pinafores into the 20th century. We have an American girls gym page. Girls continued to wear dresses during the first half of the 20th century. Some images how a few giels wearing overalls or other pants, but it was rare. The first major shift was wearing jeans. Secondary schools had resisted jeans for boys in the 1950s. This did not begin to chamge to any extent until the 1960s and especially the 70s when we begin to see girls wearing pants in addition to dresses. The primary schools seem to have left it up to the parents. The secondarry chools resisted jeans in the 1960s, but had henrrally given up on fashion policing by the 70s.

Canada


Asia


China

China has a long history of education, meaning educating the elite and primarily for the civil service. And this mean boys. Girl were not educated in China. Of course this was the general pattern in the ancient world. As was often the case, boys taught at home might have sisters who were inckuded in the lessons. Unlike Europe, girls were not educated in Chuna until the 20th century. This basic pattern was even stronger in China than in other societies. The Chinese believed that a woman's virtue lay with her lack of knowledge. An educated woman would be more likely to questiin and argue with her husband. This basic attitide is why foot-binding was so prevalent among women and continued throughout the 19th century, at least among the upperckasses. Peasant girls were unlikely to be subjected to this because thaey has to work. The idea of educating girls did not appear in China until the arrival of the Europeans. European (mpstly British) andAmerican missionaries began foinding missions which included schools (19th century). They usually allowed girls to attend the schools, but even here many parents did not allow their girls to attend classes. The missionaries also founded modern schools including the first schools for girls in all of Chinese history. Huge changes came with the 20th century. Republican forces overthrew the Imperial system (1912). And the country began building a public school system. The chinese at first look to Japan as a model. Schools were opened all over th country. Fundin at first was limited. At firt many parents continued to keep their girls at home, especially in rural areas. The Government did not attack such deeply held social attitudes. Both scocial customs and economics were factors. And the chaos of the Civil War and World War II limited China's ability to build a modern school system. This changed with the Communist victory (1949). Along with huge economic errors, hum=man rights abuses, and wide-spread arrests and executiins, there was for the first time a dgree of order throughout the country. And China built a hige public school systems in which both girls and boys were educated. Unlike the Reoublicn Govrnment, the Communist attacked many traditional social customs, as well as many individuals who came from wealthy, merchant, or landlord families. And one of the traditions was attcked was not educating girls. Parents coukd get into trouble for not sending their girls to school. The Communist Party restricted leadership roles for women, but most other limitaions in women dusappeared. . The primary limitations on women after the Revolution was the result of Communist economic failure. The Revolution did, however, massively expand educational opportunities. And the market reforms began to create economic opportunities as the economy expanded (1990s).

India

As best we can determine. the vast majority of schools in India, both public and private alike, do have a mandatory school uniform policy in grades 1-12. I am not sure how strictly uniforms are enforced in rural schools, but school uniforms appear to be strictly enforced in urban schools. We would be interested in any information that Indian readers could provide us. The uniform for boys is usually a buttoned-shirt with short sleeves, a pair of plain-colored short pants, socks (often knee socks) and dark lace-up dress shoes. The uniform for girls is normally a "salwaar kameez" very popular throughout India, which is a combination of a knee-length tunic with short or long sleeves, baggy pants,and dark lace-up shoes. OR a combination of buttoned-shirts and knee-length skirts, socks, and dark lace up dress shoes. The uniform for sport activities is mainly : a T-shirt, short sport pants and white canvas and rubber tennis shoes.

Japan

The Japanese after the Meiji Restration began building a modern, European-style public education system. This include a primary system open to boys and girls and a secondary systen that primarily focused on the boys. Primary children initially wore their traditional clothes. Gradually uniforms began to appear. Army uniformsfor the boys and sailor esses for the girls. From a fairly early point, girls began attending in large numbers. Village schools were coeducational. City schools continued to be sinle gender. Secondary schools from an early point required uniforms, Prussian cadet uniforms for the boys and sailor dresses for the girls. The secondary schools until after World War II were primarily for the boys.

Europe


England

There are substantial similarities between boys and girls school uniforms in England. Girls have adopted many items worn by boys such as ties and blazers. We are not sure precisely why this was, but suspect it may be because there was a long tradition of boys' boarding schools in England before the first girls' school was opened. The girls' schools apparently followed the examples of the already prestigious boys' schools. Besides the blazers and ties, girls wore the same sweaters that boys wore. Girls wore different styles of headwear, including berets and brimmed hats. There were of course differences. Girls always wore different headwear than the boys. Also they wore skirts rather than trousers. Here many schools for some reason had blouses and skirts for cool weather wear and light-wight dresses for warm weather. With very few exceptions, English girls do not wear trousers to school. There are a few exceptions. We have noted a few coed prep schools where girls during the Winter were allowed to wear cord long trouswrs like the boys. During the Summer, however, they were not allowed to wear short trousers. A HBC reader writes us that "In The Daily Telegraph newspaper (June 22, 2005) today there is an article about Broadstone Middle School which has now banned girls from wearing skirts to "protect their modesty" during activity lessons such as drama and music; all girls must now wear full length trousers to all lessons, even during very hot weather!" There were also differences in hosiery. Some girls wore grey kneesocks, but white ankle and kneesocks were very common. Also footwear varied. Although both boys and girls wore school sandals, girls commonly wore strap shoes. There were also sturdy school oxfords, but they were styled somewhat differently than the boys' shoes. Hopefully some of our English readers will provide us some more information about girls' school uniform trends.

Germany

Germany along with German communities in Switzerland were leaders in public education. One of Luther's central beliefs was the importance of Bible reading, something the Catholic Church did not incourage. Luther had a range of issues with the Paoacy as he stayed in his 95 Thesis, but Bible reading abd the teturn to the Biblical foundatiin was central to the Reformation. In a sebce, the Church was ruight and. The Refirnmation spawned nmany different Bibkical intepretatiions and Protestant denominations. Church leaders felt that Bible reading would confuse poorly educated people. And it would be beter guided by the priesthood. Otherwise the Church would have to deal with the fasithful reaching all kinds of conclusions contrary to Church doctrine. The Church had enough problems with heracy as it was. This would lead to the devlopment of public education in Protestant counries, led by America and Germany. Primary schools were open to boys and girls and were evenly divided. Village schools were often coed. City scgools tended to be single gender. Secondary schools were different. More boys continued school after the secondaty years than girls although this gradually changed. This was an issue when NAZIs eized power. They wanted women at home and in the kitchen not getting educated. They thought there were far too mamy girls in the secondary schools and universities.

Hungary

Hungary for four centurues was controlled by a German (Austrian) momarch yy and isstill infkudnced by he larger Germnic world and economy. This includes education. German education trends influenced educationa systems throughout Eastern nd Central Europe. In the case of Hungary, but was close to Germny abd part of the aHpsburg Austrian Empire. which became pty of the Austro-Hungrian Empire (1868). Austria was of course part of the Germanic world. As concerns the education of gurls there were common threads throughout Europe and to a lesser extent the United States. The eduction of girls was seen of much less imprtant than the education of boys. Thus we see girls in primary school, but far fewer in secondary and university level education. In addition, Hungary was not as developed as Germany with lrgely agricultural economy. Another factor is minorities. There was a substantial Slovakian populstion which was prmarily a turl pesant popultion, which was less well educasted than the majority Hungarian popultion. These limits on female education duid not chnge substantially until the Communists seized power. The reson for the differencds in the edivation of boys abd girls was of course long established cultural patterns which also mean that most women did not wok out side the hime. Some two thirds of Hungrian women ar tyhe time if World War II did not have jobs, but married and maintained the home. Apparently female literacy was high. An author suggests 10 percent, but that does sound high to us. Only four to six yeats of education were common. The author reports that secondary eduction for girls was 'very rare, and, in fact, obtaind only by girls in the ruling wealthy circkes'. [Ézéchy] This strikes us as Comminist propaganda. We suspect that many middle-cvlass gurls attended secondaruy schools. The autors then describes how much imprivement has been made in educatiuon or girls in Coimmunist Hungay. As well as the increrased emplyment opportunities. Here this sounds more reasonable. If course unmentioned is the even greater improvements in Western Europe during the same time period, especially in the wage levels and living standards.

(The) Netherlands

The Dutch school system was similar to other Protestant countries in Western Europe. The Dutch had a an excellent school system with very high standards, in part because it was one of the wealthiest countries in Europe. Because of the high academic standasrds, as in Germany, there were relatively few private schools in the Netherlands. Protestant countries, including the United States, tended to lead in public education. This was largely because of Luther's and other Protestant leaders' emphasis on Bible reading. And of course this was only possible if the population was litereate, This led directly to public education, most prominently in America and Germany. Education was almost entirely for boys. But this gradually changed in Protestsnt cointries because it was important for boys as wells as girls to read he Bible. This was not only for their own salvation, but because of the need for mothers to help teach their children to read. (At the time of the Reformation, there were no public schools (16th century). By the turn-of-the 20th century, the Dutch and other Europen countries had public schools. For the most part this meant primary schooling. There were secondary schools, but most children only attended primary schools. Secondary and univerrsity education was selective as well as involved costs. As a result, few working class children continued their education beyond primary school. Gender was also a factor. While most Dutch children completed their primary edication, many parents did not think secondary or university education was all that important for girls. Thus far more boys than girls continued their education beyond primary school. Here we are not sure how the Netherlands compared to Britain, France, and Germany. Secondary schools were mostly single gender. After World War II there were major reforms with the adoption of coeducation and the opening of opportunities for working-class children.

Russia

We note many photographs of Soviet schoolgirls wearing dark dresses and pinafores. We are not sure when this practice began. We note images from the 1930s, but they may hasve been just a few individuals or show schools. These dark dresses and fancy pinafores appear very common from the 1950s through the 1980s. We have noted both dark brown and blue dresses. Its a little difficult to describe the styling of the dresses as they are commonly covered by the pinafores. We see a few girls wearing blouses and shirts, but the dresses seem more common. I'm not sure if any other dresses or colors were involved. The pinafores we have seen were primasrily fancy white ones. We note girls of all ages wearing them, both in primary and secondary school. We notice many Soviet-era class photographs in which all or nearly all the girls wear these white pinafores. We notice differences in the styling, some were fancier than the others. They all, however, seem to be fancy white pinafores. We are not sure if there were any differences as to wearing these pinafore for the difference age groups. As best we can tell, these were not garments for special days, but the ordinary school uniform. I'm not sure but I think the girls may have had a best fancy pinafore that they wore for special occassions. Here I am not yet positive. The pinafores disappeared in the late-1980s, not because there was a change of regulations, but because large numbers of the older secondary school girls refused to wear them. We see girls wearing smocks, stockings and tights with their school uniforms.

Scotland

We see Scottish girls wearing he same garments and styles to school as their English counterparts to the south. Scotland was affected by the school uniform styles emerging in England such as jumpers which we believe are called gym slops in Britain. Most sottish girls, however did not wear uniforms in the 19th and early-20th century. Girls in the state schools system did not wear uniforms. Uniforms were worn at private schools and grammar (selective seconary) schools, but these were a relatively small part of the school-age population. The idea of educating girls was a not well established idea in much of the 19th century. In fact the whole ideapf ublic schools was fiercely devted in Britain until the late 19th century. Which is also the time that educting girls also began to take hold. Even so, the number of girls attending public/avademies (elite private bording) schools and grammar schools was much smaller than boys. Thus the school images we see from Scotland do not show school uniforms, but the regulargarments girls wore. Tey this provide a good look at popular fashion. We do not see girls commonly wearing school uniform garments until after Wotld War II in the 1960s.

Sources

Széchy, Éva. "The problems of female education," Comparative Education Vol. 23, No. 1 (1987), pp. 69-74. The author 's eduction al information seems reasonable, but we notice Marist ideological noncence. For examole she dscribes "the underdeveloped, minly agricultural, feudal-capiyalusrf system in Hungsry". Thisd my jve helped estanisjed her anti-capitalist monifides that modern Woke Americans would lso ppreciate, but Mrk would not have apprived. Feudalism and caopitalism, as Marx explained, wre two different stages of economic developmnt.






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Created: 12:33 AM 9/18/2012
Last updated: 8:22 PM 5/11/2023