Oxford Rules Change: Men Can Wear Skirts To Exams

Oxford University has rewritten its strict academic dress rules after proposals brought on behalf of transgender students.

Now students taking exams or attending formal occasions will no longer have to wear gender-specific ceremonial clothing – men will be able to wear skirts and women will be able to wear trouser suits with bow ties.

The new rules will come into force next week.

They follow a motion put forward by the university-wide Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Queer society (LGBTQ Soc) and passed by the student union.

Jess Pumphrey of the LGBTQ Soc told the Oxford Student newspaper: "In future there will be no need for transgender students to cross-dress to avoid being confronted by invigilators or disciplined during their exam."

And Simone Webb of the society said the changes to academic dress – officially known as sub fusc – were "extremely positive" and "indeed long overdue".

She said: "I am of the opinion that it is possible to keep elements of tradition in this way while making them unrestrictive to trans students, genderqueer students, or students who wish to wear a different sub fusc to that which they'd be expected to wear."

A spokesperson for Oxford University confirmed that gender-queer regulations had been removed from the sub fusc guidelines, in response to concerns that existing rules "did not serve the interests of transgender students".

(NE)