Supermarkets Tesco, Sainsbury's and Asda have all been criticised over the school uniforms that they are selling.
Parents have slammed the chains for stocking uniforms that "sexualise" girls, as the skirts and shorts are shorter than the equivalent clothes for boys.
Francesca Mallen from campaign group Let Clothes Be Clothes stated that this leaves girls with no alternative but to wear "impractical and rigid" clothes.
Each of the supermarket chains have been told that they are "absolutely not behaving responsibly" with their selection of uniforms.
As reported by Hull Live, a comparison of boys and girls uniforms from different retailers was undertaken ahead of millions of children are set returning to school this month.
Asda
In a comparison between the boys and girls George ranges at Asda, it was found that girls' shorts had an outside leg measurement of 36cm - 8cm shorter than the boys shorts.
An Asda spokesperson stated that the George range offers "more choice and variety than any other schoolwear retailer", including longer skirts, shorts and skorts for girls.
The spokesperson also revealed that 98 per cent of parents who bought the girls' comfort stretch waistband shorts would recommend the item to a friend.
Tesco
In Tesco, similar gender differences continued.
Stock was limited and although there were no girls shorts available, there were plenty of girls skirts in the 5-6 age range.
The Tesco F&F girls pleated skirt had an outside leg measurement of 32cm, compared to 36cm on the boys regular fit shorts; a difference of 4cm.
Sainsbury's
While Tesco and Asda appear to offer shorter designs for girls, Sainsbury's make some girls items that are actually longer than boys school clothes.
In fact, their TU girls aged 7 skirt has an outside leg measurement of 38cm, which is 1cm longer than the aged 7 boys' regular fit shorts.
Other issues
Although there did not appear to be big differences in the length of boys and girls school clothes at Sainsbury's, it is one of the supermarkets that sells boys trousers with reinforced knees.
Girls do not have this option when buying school trousers from the TU range.
Tesco also sells boys school trousers with more resilient knees, but does not have a similar option for girls.
It has led to fierce criticism from Let Clothes Be Clothes, which argues for school uniform policies to be equal, practical and comfortable for all pupils - regardless of their gender.
Ms Mallen said: "At the very least it's not practical. At its very worst it sexualizes girls. We're not talking about modesty here. We're talking about values of performance in dress.
"In our culture, we have these images of women that are very highly sexualized and objectified. Supermarkets have a duty to behave responsibly, and they are absolutely not doing that at the moment."
A 2021 report by the organisation found that boys clothing is designed around its durability for active children, with practical elements such as hardwearing material and pockets. However, girls clothing is often described as "stylish" and designed to be shorter and more closely fitted.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Asda George clothing range said: "While we sometimes use signposting to help customers navigate clothing sections in store and online, our school shop items are split by age and are not labelled ‘boys’ or ‘girls’.
"At George, we offer more choice and variety than any other schoolwear retailer in the market, our range includes several types of short and longer leg styles to suit children of different heights.
"Our shorts and skirts are usually fitted to the knee and below and we take all comments from customers on board when deciding on our designs, with 98 per cent of parents who bought this particular pair of shorts saying they would recommend it to a friend."
Tesco and Sainsbury's were approached for a comment, but neither supermarket had issued a response at the time of publication.
