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- Mar 10, 2019
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That's not what was going on there.
It is because pants have long been considered acceptable for both sexes outside of school that allowing it in schools with uniforms can be considered a sign of change. (Although some specific laws are still on the books, mostly 19th and 20th century laws — from 1800 until 2013 it was technically illegal for women to wear pants in Paris without police permission — enforcement gradually ceased after Word War I.)
In Japan, knee-length Western-style skirts are a required element of any female school uniform — you know all those stories about girls getting punished for wearing their skirts too short?— well in Japan girls can also get punished for wearing them too long (which is part of why it is a staple for female delinquents/yankees). So to the Japanese, going the trousers-route for uniforms is more of a change than it would first appear.
Meanwhile, a boy wearing a [Western-style] skirt would send… a different message, even if unintended by the boy wearing it — a case of the direct analogue not being the right one. (The actual equivalent for boys would be wearing a robe to school or bright pink or an abundance of lace, etc..)
You mean the kilt, the modern form of which came about in the 17th or 18th centuries (its actually very recent) and is descended from the outwear known as belted plaid (Celtic plaid/tartan goes back to Antiquity at least — although only the Scottish natively have such colourful ones, mostly the Highlands at that). Basically, the kilts were originally worn over pants or at least hose, for added warmth in the raw Scottish weather, and a belt was eventually added to keep their cloaks in place in windy weather (when is uncertain).
While today, the kilt is the only Western men's skirt, ironically the Ancient Romans looked down on the Gauls, Britons, and other Northerly Celtic peoples for… wearing pants. Once they conquered some of the Celts' lands, the climate quickly changed their minds and pants became go-to cold-weather garb.
As a rule of thumb, to Westerners, a man in a dress is less strange than a man in a skirt.
There were plenty of Western male garments with "skirts," all part of the broad group known as robes. And, yes, most of these garments did survive in some way shape or form. Today, those robes all specialized and often indicate an office or position rather than any gender role. Think of the academic cap-and-gown, legal dress, or clerical vestments. And then there's the hospital gown, the nightgown, and the bathrobe.
