Friends:
I am bothered by this thread. I don’t think anybody has a right to criticize how someone else observes tznius.
If a school has decided that their standards of tznius are that their young women should not give public speeches in front of their friend’s fathers, that is a perfectly legitimate expression of the school’s standard.
As it happens, I find it surprising that most of you would not personally have a problem with it. This is a pretty basic standard in our world, that women do not speak at public events before men.
Why do you think your shul doesn’t have women speakers? (SJS, Charlie, yes, I know your shul does.)
Is it because they have nothing worth hearing? I doubt it. It is because it is not tznius.