Equality schmequality. Women and men wear different clothes. That is the reality of the situation, at home or at work or at school, in the UK at the moment. In the overbearing majority of situations where clothes are mandated by relevant officials (at work, school, etc), different requirements are set for male and female. Because, shock horror, our bodies are different. Mandating that women wear hats ("headscarves") is not a leap back hundreds of years. It is inflammatory perhaps, in today's climate. But would there be an outcry if it had been the boys? Or if it had been a cool cape? No. So I don't see why there would be any outcry about this. It's not like it's a burkha. Though I saw a headline today that claimed that 98% of a newspaper's readership thought veils should be banned in the UK. What that says about that paper's readership is quite worrying.