Muslim women and trans policies in the workplace

I suggest you get together with other Muslim women at your workplace and bring a grievance. Ask the company whether there was an equality impact assessment. There probably wasn't - why not? Get advice on bringing a claim for religious discrimination (indirect discrimination). Do it together, and you should be able to get some initial free advice and then possibly a no win no fee agreement from a specialist employment law solicitor. If you're treated badly for bringing or considering bringing a claim, that's another possible claim.
Probably the first thing to do is to set up an appointment with am employment law solicitor - check that it's a free initial interview, and check that they specialise in discrimination law.

@titchy
Assuming they bothered to do one.

You could ask for a copy of their Equality Impact Assessment.

I'm sorry you're in this position TroubledBetty. You are right of course that your employer's new policy breaches your rights. And I understand why you are nervous about raising your concerns with the company, especially as a junior member of staff. You don't have to be nervous about asking us for help though. No matter what I think about how the Abrahamic religions treat women, I respect your choice to practice your religion and will defend your right to have your specific needs met for a single-sex space where you can wash before you pray. Much more importantly, so does the law.

That's why you have two protected characteristics under the Equality Act - religion and sex - on whose basis your employer's new policy breaches your rights.

Your employer's answer sounds like a reference to so-called unisex toilets. These must come off a main corridor, not an enclosed room, and are for the use of either sex but only one person at a time. (This is the most common form that accessible toilets come in.)

Such unisex toilets are not, strictly speaking, mixed-sex, because there is no room for people of both sexes to use the same cubicle at the same time. They are single-entry.

The facility your employer describes is a multi-entry version of sanitary facilities, which usually have shared wash-basins (but not in this case). So even what they describe here does not meet the standard for unisex toilets, because you are in an enclosed space with a male person.

However, much more important is that you say the facilities available to you are of the much more common multi-entry version that single-sex toilets come in. So that is what you focus on.

The toilets available to you have shared wash-basins and your employer cannot therefore bat away your concerns by talking about completely different facilities.

Before taking this further, I would recommend reading the links posted by others and learning about the Equality Act. Also, I would not immediately write off your union, if you are a member of one. Yes, those who run the unions endorse and promote self-id, but your union rep may not. That's certainly been the experience of other women who turned to their union for support. (Some have indeed found their union rep to be wholly unhelpful, but I would at least try to speak to yours - if you have one.)

Don't lose hope!

I'm not a lawyer, but I would have thought you may have a better chance to fight this under the Equality Act provisions for Religious Belief, rather than the Gender/Sex argument, given how thorougly captured so many institutions are.

It is an egregious state of affairs that this is the current state of the world for many many women. How did we get to a situation where the wants of probably 1% of the population dictate the needs of 51%? What sort of society are we creating?

I don't understand your first post then.

Gottalife
Single sex sleeping and bathroom accommodations are legal on the grounds of privacy. There's no need for any court case, its set out in The Equality Act.
The fact that transsexual people can be included in this exemption acknowledges that their biological sex is not the same as gender identity or a newly acquired legal sex status.

''Effect
997.This paragraph provides an exception to the general prohibition of sex and gender reassignment discrimination. It allows communal accommodation to be restricted to one sex only...''

''Examples
A hostel only accepts male guests. It is not unlawful for it to refuse to accept female guests because the majority of the bedrooms are shared and there is only one communal bathroom.''

www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/notes/division/3/16/40/3

The legitimate aim is optional not compulsory and good reason needs to be proven.

It's not just one way, women or people with other protected characteristics such as race or religion can bring court cases too saying they are either being directly or indirectly discriminated against or subjected to sexual harassment.

We have to pray 5 times a day and before prayer we have to wash (private parts, feet, hands, pat down our hair etc). I would feel extremely uncomfortable doing this if I know that there is a male there or that a male could enter at any time

Do you do this at the moment? I'm a woman and I wouldn't be thrilled at finding someone of either sex washing their "private parts" in the communal sink area.

"You could call the solicitors Leigh and Day"

I see that Leigh&Day are a Stonewall Diversity Champion.

www.leighday.co.uk/diversity-and-inclusion-at-leigh-day/

There are multiple accounts of muslim women no longer attending supposedly single-sex women swimming after transwomen were allowed to attend.

There must be so many women affected by this.

Hi Betty - and so glad you have posted this.

I think it might be worth contacting Leigh Day solicitors and I think they have done some cases on no win no fee and claim to be very keen to fight for equality.

Also it might be worth contacting the Muslim Women's Network. Hopefully they will not only understand your concerns but will be fully committed to standing up for them. www.mwnuk.co.uk/ I think they were recently appointed to run one of the All Party Parliamentary Committees so they do have status.

Unlike the MCB who the Government does NOT talke to on the basis of alleged comments said to be anti semitic. Penny Mordaunt has just been told off for meeting the new (first?) woman leader of MCB. So not saying this is acceptable but wouldn't want your query lost in the contraversy over this.

It might be worth contacting Southall Black Sisters. They have a reputation for taking difficult cases on. The only issue might be whether in the current circumstances they can do this. southallblacksisters.org.uk/

Or is it worth writing a letter to any of the Muslim newspapers? Assuming your letter can by anonymous this might mean that other women facing the same issue will feel able to raise the question. ie make it easier for you to know you are part of a group of women making the same complaint rather than you being an isolated individual in one work place.

I do hope you can find some way of getting the company to take your complaints seriously.

This jumped out at me from the policy, and it might be wise to put it at the forefront of whatever you say:

For non-binary people, this might mean using gender-neutral facilities or using a combination of different facilities which they feel most comfortable using

There is an obvious conflict here between the right of someone who is male but id's a nb to use women's toilets (the company seem to assume that right exists) and your right to be provided with single sex facilities. You have the protected characteristic of sex (as female) and religion & belief. What protected characteristic does the hypothetical bearded nb have other than sex (male)? How would they defend a discrimination claim from you about this? What kind of impact assessment did they do on this, to see how the policy affects other groups?

It might be worth contacting 'counterweight' to see if this is the kind of thing they've dealt with, but maybe you should go straight to speaking to a discrimination lawyer.

Op if you seek advice from a lawyer I would also check that they are not Stonewall champions (or affiliated to some similar network) otherwise you are very likely to get incorrect advice (such a bizarre situation that you can’t even trust the lawyers with the law but hey ho).

Gottalife you must be aware from being on mn by now that the ‘proportionate means to a legitimate aim’ measure is used very frequently, constantly in fact.

The law has already provided for its use in exactly that type of facility. See the list below (and the link to the actual part of the law)

It is very clear and the Health & Safety regulations also stipulate a specific number of single sexual toilets for the size of workforce.

It is only Stonewall et al that have deliberately manufactured confusion in this where there needs to be none at all.

Examples

• 738.These exceptions would allow:

• a fathers’ support group to be set up by a private nursery as there is insufficient attendance by men at the parents’ group;

• separate male and female wards to be provided in a hospital;
• separate male and female changing rooms to be provided in a department store;
• a massage service to be provided to women only by a female massage therapist with her own business operating in her clients’ homes because she would feel uncomfortable massaging men in that environment.

www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/notes/division/3/16/20/7

It's not legal - it's in breach of the Equality Act because it is indirectly discriminating against a group of people on the basis of their religious belief.

Inky octopus
"In our organisation we have separate washing areas for Muslim staff. "

Is this because the toilet / washing facilities are mixed sex?

This site (below) says that employers must treat people fairly and be sensitive to their needs on grounds of religion (prayer rooms, dress code etc) and I’m sure that your employer should listen to you when you tell them that the measures they have in place are not good enough.

I’m not a lawyer and there is a lot of good advice on the websites up thread, but it seems like it is discrimination against you and your colleagues (all of your female colleagues) on grounds of Sex (not providing single sex facilities as per EA 2010 and Health &Safety at work) and Religious Beliefs by not proving reasonable facilities for you to adhere to the requirements of your religion.

Re their argument about the cubicles, I’m sure the law only says that enclosed cubicles with a wash hand basin are suitable when they open onto a wider public area (I can’t remember the terminology) and NOT opening into an enclosed ’toilet room’ which doesn’t suit your needs for obvious reasons. (If I’ve understood your description of the provision correctly).

This situation is going to become more common I fear as people return to the office after Covid to find shiny new mixed arrangements or women may not have realised that the policy has been changed and won’t find out until a transgender employee comes along and pops up in the ladies one day.

Gather support among your colleagues and best of luck. Please let us know if you make progress.

Ladies check your policies.

www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/fundamentals/emp-law/religious-discrimination/factsheet#gref