EHRC code on single sex spaces comes into force on 5th August 2026

Wow, and thats the end of mumsnet for me. Transwomen are not men. Women are battered by men daily!!!! This is what we should be fighting not other women. This sort of behaviour is abhorrent. Transpeople should be able to use the loo. What do you care which loo. Its not like we share cubicles

Thats a good question! But appears mumsnet have decided the answer is just to ensure transpeople feel really awkward about peeing.

Let me know if you get an answer to that question! It's important, and I think @Mum2boys01 might actually finally be the one to tell us what it's all about!

ed. spelling sorry

Always up for a serious discussion. In my work I support trans people in the daily lives and im sure they would love to feel heard in the design of safe spaces. I agree. I dont want people to feel safe but be safe

They're not pretending? How can you tell?
They're not going into women's spaces to cause harm (aka "They just want to pee"? How can you tell?

They're not pretending? How can you tell?
They're not going into women's spaces to cause harm (aka "They just want to pee"? How can you tell?

The idea that transgender women are simply "men in women's toilets" ignores both the reality of transgender people's lives and the evidence. Transgender women are women. They are not pretending, and they are not entering women's spaces to cause harm. Like everyone else, they are usually just trying to use the toilet, wash their hands, and get on with their day.
Everyone deserves to feel safe in public spaces. That includes cisgender women, transgender women, and anyone else using those facilities. If someone harasses, assaults, or intimidates another person in a toilet, that behaviour is already illegal and should be dealt with regardless of that person's gender identity.
Policies should be based on evidence, not fear or stereotypes. There is no good evidence that allowing transgender women to use women's toilets leads to an increase in sexual assault or predatory behaviour. Conflating transgender women with predators unfairly stigmatises an entire group of people for the actions of criminals who already ignore the law.
You don't have to fully understand what it means to be transgender to treat people with dignity and respect. Disagreeing with someone's identity should never be an excuse to deny their humanity or portray them as a threat without evidence. We should be able to discuss safety seriously while also recognizing that transgender people deserve the same respect, privacy, and protection as everyone else.

@Mum2boys01 the biggest threat to anyone at their most vulnerable in a toilet is if they can’t be seen or heard. Being trapped, having a medical emergency etc.

A single sex cubicle in a single sex environment is materially different in design because it is permitted to have door gaps for supervision in emergencies, ventilation, cleaning and prevention of misuse. These are big advantages for women and children and those medically vulnerable.

Toilet rooms in a mixed sex environment are private. Because of male voyeurism. 100% of voyeurs in prison are male. No one wants door gaps in a mixed sex environment.

If both sexes are in the area in front of the toilet, then single sex designs can’t exist anymore. We all have to use individual mixed sex rooms called the universal design (often called unisex).

My research is evidence-based on real life incidents and shows that well designed single sex toilets do indeed save people’s lives and prevent assaults. Conversely unisex toilets are scientifically proven to contain more pathogens so much so that academics have discouraged their use in hospitals.

I agree what you say here:
Everyone deserves to feel safe in public spaces.
Policies should be based on evidence, not fear or stereotypes.
We should be able to discuss safety seriously while also recognizing that transgender people deserve the same respect, privacy, and protection as everyone else.

I don’t just want people to feel safe, I want people to be safe in toilets.

However, if you want ‘to discuss safety seriously’ for transgender people I am listening to your suggestions for toilet designs. I have spent a lot of time researching and listening to what transgender people want - and what they need. Do you want to discuss this seriously?

I don't value women any less by respecting transgender women. Recognising trans women doesn't redefine or erase cisgender women—it simply acknowledges that not everyone's experience of womanhood is the same.
I also don't accept the premise that trans women are just "sexist men." Being transgender isn't about believing women wear dresses or act a certain way; it's about a person's gender identity. Reducing all trans women to sexist caricatures ignores both the evidence and the reality of their lives.
Wanting trans women to be treated with dignity doesn't come at the expense of cisgender women. We can support women's rights, take safety seriously, and also reject the idea that an entire group should be treated as a threat simply because they're transgender.

Womanhood doesn't have a single universally accepted definition. Some people define it purely in terms of biological sex, while others include the social and personal experience of living and being recognised as a woman. That's one of the reasons these debates are so difficult—people often start from different definitions.
Gender identity is generally understood as a person's internal sense of whether they are a woman, a man, or another gender. It isn't something that can be directly measured like blood pressure or height. Instead, it's understood through a person's consistent experience of themselves over time. For transgender people, that experience doesn't align with the sex they were assigned at birth, and for many this is accompanied by significant distress, known as gender dysphoria.
Importantly, gender identity isn't the same thing as believing women wear dresses or men like football. Most transgender people aren't defining gender by stereotypes. The idea is that a person's internal sense of self can differ from their biological sex, even though people disagree about how that should be understood or reflected in law and society.

But what does "living as a woman" actually boil down to? How do you do it if you're male? (How do you do it if you're female, come to that?)

The Supreme Court clarified how the terms "man," "woman," and "sex" are to be interpreted in the Equality Act 2010 for the purposes of that legislation. That is a legal interpretation of a specific Act, not a statement that transgender people don't exist or that gender identity is meaningless.
The judgment also didn't say that every transgender woman must always use the men's facilities in every circumstance. It addressed the legal meaning of sex under the Equality Act. The practical application of that ruling, including how services should operate, depends on legislation, statutory guidance, and individual policies.

You again - as you've been told at least 87 times, transwomen are men and therefore like all men pose a risk which is why we keep them out

According to the Supreme Court 'transwomen' are men. The court clarified that when The Equality Act says men and women they mean biological men and women. The EHRC guidance says womens and men's facilities should be used on the basis of sex not gender identity. 'Transwomen' need to use the men's or a gender neutral alternative.

So the answer is to treat all transwomen as dangerous predatory men?

Is this thread real, have I followed it correctly. Do people really think the biggest threat to women is transwomen (who are women fyi) in a cubicle??? Genuinely interested

So the answer is to treat all transwomen as dangerous predatory men?

Womanhood doesn't have a single universally accepted definition. Some people define it purely in terms of biological sex, while others include the social and personal experience of living and being recognised as a woman. That's one of the reasons these debates are so difficult—people often start from different definitions.
Gender identity is generally understood as a person's internal sense of whether they are a woman, a man, or another gender. It isn't something that can be directly measured like blood pressure or height. Instead, it's understood through a person's consistent experience of themselves over time. For transgender people, that experience doesn't align with the sex they were assigned at birth, and for many this is accompanied by significant distress, known as gender dysphoria.
Importantly, gender identity isn't the same thing as believing women wear dresses or men like football. Most transgender people aren't defining gender by stereotypes. The idea is that a person's internal sense of self can differ from their biological sex, even though people disagree about how that should be understood or reflected in law and society.

Being transgender isn't about believing women wear dresses or act a certain way; it's about a person's gender identity.

Is there a way to tell the difference between a man who is pretending to be a woman and a man who is actually a woman?

Because we can't see inside their heads to see their "gender identity." If you know of an easy way to distinguish between the two, then we could weed out all the harmful men, and just let the nice ones in (well, we could if it weren't against the law).

It would be really helpful if you could let us know how you do it, because women have been wondering about this for years,and no one seems to have an answer.

Thanks.

They do matter. Women's privacy, dignity, and safety should absolutely be taken seriously. The question isn't whether those concerns are real—it's how we balance them with the rights and safety of transgender people.
Not every situation is the same. Prisons, hospital wards, domestic violence refuges, intimate care, and public toilets all involve different levels of risk and vulnerability, so it's reasonable for policies to differ depending on the context. Many services already make decisions based on individual risk rather than applying a blanket rule either way.
I don't think it's helpful to frame this as "women versus trans women." Both groups deserve compassion and protection. We should be looking for evidence-based policies that protect vulnerable people without assuming that all transgender women are a threat simply because they're transgender.

The idea that transgender women are simply "men in women's toilets" ignores both the reality of transgender people's lives and the evidence. Transgender women are women. They are not pretending, and they are not entering women's spaces to cause harm. Like everyone else, they are usually just trying to use the toilet, wash their hands, and get on with their day.
Everyone deserves to feel safe in public spaces. That includes cisgender women, transgender women, and anyone else using those facilities. If someone harasses, assaults, or intimidates another person in a toilet, that behaviour is already illegal and should be dealt with regardless of that person's gender identity.
Policies should be based on evidence, not fear or stereotypes. There is no good evidence that allowing transgender women to use women's toilets leads to an increase in sexual assault or predatory behaviour. Conflating transgender women with predators unfairly stigmatises an entire group of people for the actions of criminals who already ignore the law.
You don't have to fully understand what it means to be transgender to treat people with dignity and respect. Disagreeing with someone's identity should never be an excuse to deny their humanity or portray them as a threat without evidence. We should be able to discuss safety seriously while also recognizing that transgender people deserve the same respect, privacy, and protection as everyone else.

In other words: "womanhood" and "gender identity" are meaningless concepts, since they are entirely dependent on whoever is discussing them at any given time.

Thus, they cannot be used to make laws.

Which is why under UK law, womanhood refers exclusively to the biological female sex. Under that definition, transwomen are not women, and don't belong in female single-sex spaces.