Mexico City’s Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum announced on June 3 that children in Mexico City would be allowed to choose the uniform they wear to school. The policy applies to pre-schools, elementary schools, and secondary schools.=
Sheinbaum called “the era in which girls had to wear a skirt and boys had to wear trousers a thing of the past.” She added: “Boys can wear a skirt if they want to and girls can wear trousers if they want.” She called the measure “very simple … but important.”
She is right.
Allowing students to choose their attire can help combat gender stereotypes. Among those who will likely benefit most from Mexico City’s new policy are gender-nonconforming children. They may include lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth, whose gender expression does not always accord with rigid norms.
To communicate the new policy, Mexico City’s federal education authority issued a notice stating, “from now on, the use of skirt or trousers will be a free choice in the public and private basic education schools of Mexico City.”