[Gender neutrality](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_neutrality) is the principle that laws, language, and other social institutions should avoid defining roles based on sex or gender. This is to prevent prejudice based on the perception that one gender is better suited to some roles in society. Gender inequality has profoundly influenced many facets of culture, including marketing, toys, education, and parenting strategies throughout history. [The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has recommended that attempts be made to combat and crack gender stereotypes beginning in kindergarten](https://www.cognita.com/thought-leadership/gender-neutral-education-lead-true-equality-children/) The National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT), which designs school curricula and is part of the Union of Human Resource Development Ministry, claims that such an initiative will eliminate gender biases in children as they grow up. Sex also influences boys’ and girls’ behaviour. Teachers separate girls and boys in this setting as well: sports for boys and dance for girls, for example. In my school, girls had to wear a skirt and men pants, and even we tried to convince teachers to wear pants, they refused. To begin, teachers must give children agency and allow them to pursue whatever interests them. Gender perception in pre-adolescents is typically a product of social conditioning, and to some degree, media also plays a role in this.

**TL;DR If schools were to be gender neutral, where do you draw the line?** Its one thing to suggest that uniforms should be gender neutral, but is it appropriate to suggest that both toilets and changing rooms should be gender neutral and shared too? School, for most children, is a daunting time and to implement gender neutral toilets would be a step towards ignoring the sensitivities of children of school age. For instance, I doubt anyone would see it appropriate for an 11-year-old girl to be using the same toilet or changing room as an 18-year-old boy. Despite this, there have been a number of cases where schools have implemented the use of gender neutral (or uni-sex) toilets, however they have been met with a number of serious criticisms. Reports by both the [Daily Mail] (http://archive.is/Vs9Ir) and [Telegraph] (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/primaryeducation/11138932/Primary-school-introduces-unisex-toilets-to-prevent-transphobia.html) back in 2014, highlight parents’ concerns surrounding their children having to use these toilets. Another report by [Metro]( http://archive.is/Vs9Ir) in 2017 highlights the important notion that the policy of gender-neutral toilets is one that ‘caters to the few at the expense of the majority who are feeling less comfortable and happy’.

**TL;DR – While I do feel that it's a good idea to bring awareness of gender inclusive language and behavior into the classroom, I think we need to caution how this is done - especially with regards to age.** We need to be more conscious with regards to the subject matter of gender neutrality and pay particular attention to how it is broached in the different age groups, as it *could have both long-term positive and negative consequences.* For example, [in Scandinavia, in Stockholm's Nicolaigarden pre-school](https://www.news24.com/parent/Child_7-12/Development/what-scandinavia-can-teach-us-about-gender-stereotypes-20180207), a rather *creative and clever way gender neutrality was introduced was through new and unconventional books.* Apparently, the aim was to "ensure equality between genders." So the way gender neutrality was introduced here resulted in a positive outcome as it was incorporated into the children's school work in a non-disruptive manner – which is an important part of the process so that it's not discriminated against or seen as separate. Whereas, in this second contrasting example, [the Priory School in Lewes, East Sussex](https://dadbloguk.com/priory-school-gender-neutral-school-uniform/) introduced a new school uniform policy that stated all pupils, regardless of gender, *must* wear trousers. Apparently, the aim was to “address the current issues of inequality and decency.” However, what started out with good intentions was then followed by a disastrously negative outcome as the whole situation just exploded into something nasty and ugly. So the way in which gender neutrality was introduced here, resulted in a negative outcome as the whole situation – from the way it was introduced to the overall handling of the fallout afterwards, was handled irresponsibly. Consequently, despite our best intentions and just wanting to do good, *it's important that the way we approach an especially sensitive issue like this - especially with regards to age, be taken with the utmost care in mind.*

This should be our last gasp stand against the rednecks, the male supremacists, in our western societies, and those from other cultures in the Occident who traditional hold women back and down. The earlier we start in schools, the more open and flexible the children are to develop awareness, and women - uncuriously - cannot do this by themselves!

Schools being gender neutral would be more comfortable for students who don’t fit norms. As a genderqueer individual, using non inclusive language (I.e. “ladies and gentlemen” “he/she”) have made me and other people at my school feel very uncomfortable. Even just the simple switch of saying they instead of he/she can help. My school has a gender neutral uniform and it has been extremely beneficial. Any gender could wear either pants or skirts. This meant that I wasn’t forced into wearing skirts as an afab genderqueer person which was very relieving. If school was gender neutral, I as a non binary person wouldn’t feel uncomfortable (and other non-binary people wouldn’t either). Additionally not gendering typically gendered things (i.e. dance, sports, skirts, etc) would let all genders feel more comfortable and make them feel less pressure to conform to gender stereotypes.

No because children need to learn about their bodies, they need to learn the difference and removing gendered words erases men and women in favour of those who identify as something else. One should not suffer for the sake of another.