Equal rights for men in a heatwave!
Three cheers for the boys of the Isca Academy in Exeter, who have protested against the headmistress’s ban on shorts... by turning up to school in skirts. The pupils had asked for some modifications to their uniform during the heatwave this week, only to be told that these would not be allowed. One of the boys who took part in the protest said: “We’re not allowed to wear shorts, and I’m not sitting in trousers all day, it’s a bit hot.” I’ve just finished reading The Power, the brilliant book by Naomi Alderman which won the Baileys Prize earlier this month. In it, women suddenly discover they have far greater physical strength than men – and this week, during the heatwave, it occurred to me that this was happening in miniature all over the country.
Us ladies get to wear skirts, sandals and strappy tops when the temperature gets too much; meanwhile, blokes are expected to tough it out in exactly the same clothes they have to wear in the deep midwinter. There aren’t many men out there who can afford summer suits – or pull one off without ending up looking like a particularly bad version of the man from Del Monte.
Isn’t it time we afforded men the same luxuries us ladies get when the mercury goes up? Shorts at school and in the office – as long as none of you get carried away and start wearing hot pants.