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The New South Wales Government has announced that girls at all public schools will be given the option of wearing shorts and pants instead of skirts and dresses if they prefer.
Earlier this month, the Queensland Government announced it would be implementing the same policy in state schools from next year, while Victoria and Western Australia have already made the change.
Dr Amanda Mergler, a co-founder of Girls' Uniform Agenda, says the tide has turned on the issue.
"I think the majority of Australians know that all students should be able to choose uniform options that they feel comfortable in," she said.
However, the rules still aren't exactly the same at government schools everywhere. Find out where your state or territory stands.
Queensland
Queensland Education Minister Grace Grace said that before the policy change, shorts and pants were already available to girls in 60 per cent of schools.
"But we found that some schools had not updated their student dress codes in many years," she said.
However, while state schools will now have to offer greater choice to girls, each school will still be responsible for design, colour and style.
New South Wales
The Department of Education has changed its rules so that girls must have the option of wearing shorts and pants. Schools will have up to three years to make the change.
Before now, it was up to individual schools to make a decision on what options were available.
The state's new policy also calls on all school items to be "affordable, comfortable and suitable" for all body types.
Victoria
The state changed its policy last year so that female students at all public schools would be given the option of wearing shorts and pants from the beginning of this year.
"Schools and school councils are expected to develop, as far as practicable, dress code requirements that are similar for both sexes," the Education Department guidelines now say.
The guidelines also say all students should have access to the full range of available school uniform options.
However, Dr Mergler says there still needs to be more clarification in Victoria.
"While Victoria did update their policy last year, they only added one line stating shorts and pants for girls should be available," she said.
"This is not clear enough, and we have heard from families in Victoria that schools are not changing."
ACT
These are the guideline for uniforms in Canberra's public schools:
"School based uniform policies should promote freedom of choice for all students by categorising options by clothing type rather than by gender, for example, shorts, trousers, skirts rather than boy's uniform/girl's uniform."
The guidelines say that stopping a student from wearing a school uniform item due to their gender may infringe the ACT Discrimination Act (1991).
Dr Mergler says the majority of state schools in the ACT allow girls to wear shorts and pants.
Tasmania
Individual schools in this state have their own uniform requirements and dress codes.
Beyond this, Dr Mergler says the state doesn't have a clear policy on the issue.
"We hear from families in that state that they want a clear choice so their daughters can wear shorts and pants," she said.
South Australia
The state's education policy doesn't specifically address pants and skirts, but it does say:
Regardless of a student's gender, the dress code should be flexible, and allow the right of choice. This includes the choice of clothing that allows for freedom of movement, level of comfort, safety, consideration of climatic factors, and specific circumstances such as pregnancy.
Girls' Uniform Agenda says its data shows most public schools in SA offer girls the options of both shorts and pants.
Northern Territory
It's compulsory for students at all government schools in the Northern Territory to wear a uniform until at least Year 9 (senior schools make their own decision on this).
However, the territory's uniforms policy does not mandate the exact uniform items to be made available, nor does it directly address gender.
Instead, principals are responsible for "developing, reviewing and communicating a dress code for their school" in consultation with their school communities.
Nevertheless, Dr Mergler says, "A good number of NT schools appear to offer shorts and pants for girls".
The NT's school uniforms policy is due to be reviewed in October.
Western Australia
Last year, the WA Government announced that girls would no longer be forced to wear skirts or dresses if they didn't want to.
Education Minister Sue Ellery made the decision in response to a plea from 11-year-old schoolgirl Sofia Myhre.
Principals are now required to make sure there are "gender neutral" uniform options for all students.
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