Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
School shoes for girls not on equal footing to boys
Mum’s fury over ‘stereotyping’ on shelves at Clarks
A MUM has kicked out at girls’ flimsy school shoes, saying they put them on an unequal footing to boys.
Jemma Moonie-dalton said girls’ footwear put style over substance while boys’ was sturdy and comfortable.
It gave the wrong message and limited girls’ activities, she claimed.
After going to Clarks to buy new shoes for her seven-year-old daughter and five-year-old son, she posted a photo of a girl’s shoe online with the message: “Not good enough.”
She added: “What messages are you giving to my daughter? That she doesn’t deserve shoes that put her on equal ‘footing’ with her male peers?
“That she should be satisfied with looking stylish whilst the boys are free to play and achieve in comfort?
“That she shouldn’t try and compete with boys when they play chase – girls’ shoes aren’t made for speed, so perhaps girls aren’t either? These messages may not be explicit, but they are there, and are insidious.”
Ms Moonie-dalton went to a Clarks branch in Edmonton, North London, and was outraged at a limited Mary Jane design on offer for her daughter, claiming the style of a simple strap across the foot left large areas exposed and unprotected.
She claimed the boys’ shoes on the racks had “soles clearly designed with running and climbing in mind”, while girls’ had “inferior soles” and were “not comfortable and not suited to outdoor activities in British weather”.
Within hours of posting her rant on Facebook it had been shared more than 13,700 times and liked 33,000 times, with thousands of parents wading in with complaints of their own.
Clarks insisted it has developed a range of unisex shoes and is scrapping “gender aisles” in the children’s departments of key stores.
It added: “We are looking at a number of elements of our business to promote this gender neutral ethos, both on our website and within our stores.”
The row emerged days after Tesco was hit by sexism complaints over its online school shoes campaign, in which boys’ shoes were labelled “Airtred Soles” while girls’ were marketed as having “Sensitive Soles”.
Tesco said it had “listened to feedback” and the wording in the ad now reads: “All our school shoes have comfort insoles using our specially developed Airtred and Sensitive Sole technology to ensure all-day comfort.”