'Call them pupils, not girls'

London: Leading single-sex private schools in the UK have been told not to use the words ‘girls', ‘young women' and ‘young ladies' as they might offend pupils who are questioning their gender identity.

The advice has been issued by the Girls' Schools Association. Teachers have been told that they should instead use gender-neutral words such as pupils or students. "In assemblies instead of saying ‘Girls, go to lessons', staff should say ‘Pupils, go to lessons'," Caroline Jordan, association president and headmistress of Headington School in Oxford, said.

"I feel that every year there are more young people questioning their gender identity. I do not want anyone to think that girls' or boys' schools are invested in one way of being a girl or one way of being a boy," she said.