Sex Equality and Equity Network - Gender crit network for civil servants.

I don’t have this sort of facility in my current building but I worked for several years in a building (civil service but not a government department) where all of the toilets were unisex self contained cubicles, and I found that much less stressful. They opened off a single corridor which was just for the toilets - as in you go through a door into a long room and all of the self contained cubicles lead off that room, so it’s not a corridor people would be walking up and down for any other reason. Many of the things you mentioned sound like a design flaws with the specific facilities you had, rather than a necessary feature of having self contained cubicles.

Fortunately it’s a while since I’ve had to wash much blood off my hands, as I had treatment that significantly improved my heavy periods. But I know I’m not alone in finding that when it’s really heavy it can be hard to avoid getting it on your hands. Obviously you wipe it off as best you can with toilet paper, so probably no one notices when you wash off the remnants, but I still felt self conscious about it.

Have you experienced the gender neutral toilets being discussed here @aseriesofstillimages ? Are you a civil servant? I know of one new build office at least at my Department that has nothing but this type of 'universal toilet'. There are no single sex facilities in the building, only these individual cubicles. I personally don't like them and know many others aren't keen on them, for a number of reasons many of which relate to the different standards of hygiene experienced in toilets used by men and those used by women. Liquids on the floor and seat, marks on the bowl etc are much more common in these new gender neutral toilets - could be coincidence, could be that they are mixed sex. I particularly dislike them because they open out onto a public corridor. I had an experience recently where someone tried to come in while I was actually on the toilet. I don't imagine there was any ill intent, the locks don't make it obvious whether the cubicle is occupied, and the doors are heavy and self closing so people are bound to need to try them to see if they're free. The toilet is too far from the door to put a foot out to block it, so if the lock isn't secure you'd be exposed to the whole corridor. You also don't know if the person trying the door is a man or a woman. Although on that occasion the lock was ok, the shock of seeing and hearing the handle move while I was semi undressed was just a totally unnecessary and avoidable stress that I don't expect to put up with at work. I want women's toilets. We can have men's, women's and GN if you want - I can't say I've ever had to rinse bloodied hands at the sink, and I've never seen anyone else do it either but if that happens regularly for you then by all means keep the individual cubicles too. Just don't override the silent majority who prefer single sex facilities.

No, I prefer single sex looks unless I am dealing with my period, in which case I like a single sex self contained room. For whatever reason women's loos with cubicles and shared sinks tend to be cleaner and faster (in both cases it seems to be to do with the fact you are in a shared space that makes people tidier, cleaner, more considerate and faster than when you are in your own room). I also like having an on-hand women only space available in times of struggle.

If each toilet is in a separate room with its own sink, isn’t that the best possible solution for everyone? I would much rather no one else could hear me going to the toilet, regardless of their sex or gender, or see me wash blood off my hands after a messy period incident.

Nope, they changed the toilets on every other floor to be gender neutral, with single sex toilets remaining on alternate floors. As I understand it, with the gender neutral toilets, most people have continued to use the ones they used when they were single sex anyway.

Sex Matters are looking for exactly this kind of thing in the workplace. You can see what they are after here.
sex-matters.org/take-action/trans-awareness-week-leaks/

Great answer!

Didn't the Home Office change all the loos to 'gender neutral' aka mixed sex and staff especially women were walking to other gov buildings to use the single sex facilities? Taking quite a long time to go to the loo every time. IIRC they changed them back pretty sharpish.

True!

Not just women but all sex realists!

@Princessglittery Thank you, that's a really helpful post. I will ask at next meeting after checking some things on the HSE site.

@Cinker Don't lose hope, you can always try again - I'm sure you're not alone in your thoughts about this.

This is really good news. The more women get organised the better.

I’ve had to use unisex toilets twice recently because there was no alternative. I know it’s not the biggest issue but I do not like puddles on the seat and floor. Do some individuals stand just inside the door, aim and hope for the best?

@ToiletTroubles sorry cross posted with your latest update.

Pretty much no-one anywhere does, according to Sex Matters: sex-matters.org/posts/category/campaigns/single-sex-services-voices/

I am going to ask the question on our all staff call, although they have moved from anon to having your name there which makes me cautious.

@ToiletTroubles not to detail the thread but a few thoughts.

Whst going against the grain, naming the facilities female and male toilets rather than womens and mens etc. emphasises they are sex based facilities. I would also propose Unisex toilet rather than Gender Neutral, again this emphasises they are sex based facilities.

Point out that men may feel that Unisex facilities with open urinals do not offer them the dignity and respect they are entitled too.

Point out that HSE require a minimum number of toilets per employee. In particular that the number is different based on sex. www.hse.gov.uk/contact/faqs/toilets.htm

Obviously point out that there are 9 protected characteristics and the legislation is clear they are equal I.e. one is not more important than another. Religion is a PC and some women would not be able to use Unisex facilities.

Suggest a compromise, one female and one male toilet made unisex and the rest remain female and male. Ask for stats i.e. what % of employees are Transgender or non-binary. On that basis why make 100% of toilets Unisex when 90% (check stat) of employees are not trans or non-binary.

Note: Only making female toilets Unisex is discriminatory as it disproportionately affects one sex. It also adversely impacts females with a faith. It may also impact HSE ratios.
HTH

In a discussion in my team, no one liked
the idea of mixed sex toilets.

@ArabellaScott They will be enclosed, which is good on the whole I guess. But many respondents want to retain separate provision, not sharing facilities with opposite sex whether in a side room or on a corridor.

They are happy to some have gender neutral but want to retain separate sex provision as well, which is provided for in H&S as you say.

I also think Kemi Badenoch and Suella Braverman have made mention of this too, which is particularly relevant to my dept.

A big raspberry to the moderators at the all staff call at my Dept, who rejected my shout out to the Seen network.
I suspect they are bigots, although it’s also possibly they couldn’t verify it as a legit network.

Good to hear, ToiletTroubles.

Worth noting that H&S in the workplace stipulates single sex provision, with numbers for each. If it's 'gender neutral' provision then it has to be 100% enclosed, with sink in the cubicle.

@Borderlinehungry This time nearly 85% of toilet comments were critical of gender neutral 'takeover' (as one comment put it), an increase of about 10% on last meeting.

We have a very diverse workforce in terms of ethnicity and religious backgrounds and over 50 per cent female. Someone noted that our dept could be opening themselves up for religious discrimination claims.

Hope so! I don't really know many of the wider DEFRA people, so the names don't mean much to me

Is there a wide range of views, @ToiletTroubles? I’m expecting this to become an issue where I work too.

Managed to post about SEEN on web chat in meeting about toilets today in our CS dept. It's a real hot topic in our planned move to a new building.