New offices all unisex toilets

[Ottobeak]

I have to find new offices and the best ones I've found so far are in a block where each floor has an accessible toilet and a "block" of unisex toilets.

The block is a room off the corridor with individual floor to ceiling cubicles, with a sink in each.

At a staff meeting today I presented the option and explained about the toilets, to gauge what objections there might be.

There were none, at all, in fact people seemed perplexed that I might think there would be.

Honestly to read MN you'd swear women's piss smelled like Chanel No 5, their poo smelled like roses and the seats in the ladies are never ever covered in said piss because of the hoverers.

I worked in an office with unisex toilets. Floor to ceiling, sink in each. No problems at all. It was a corridor with toilets on each side and naturally woman went to the left and men to the right - it was like an unspoken rule.

All to appease a 'tiny minority'.

What about women's needs?

Women are more likely to need a larger cubicle, more likely to need a sink in the cubicle and more likely to appreciate a fully enclosed room.

I don't see the issue. This seems to be standard in hospitals/GP surgeries and has been for many years, based on my experience - the toilets are enclosed, with a sink, mirror and bin and enough room to adjust clothes etc. Tbh I'm quite claustrophobic (and antisocial 🤣) so prefer this to tiny little cubicles where you can barely turn around and having to wash hands (and sort my makeup/hair/clothes etc if necessary) in front of loads of random women at a communal sink!

Well yes, some people are disgusting, no doubt about it! But I’d still rather be able to go to the loo then wash my hands immediately, rather than having to negotiate a lock and handle first. The current design of women’s facilities is one of the main things that put me off using mooncups etc, a friend who does use one always goes in the disabled loo when she needs to deal with hers so that the sink is in the room.
In public spaces they should all also have baby change facilities, cannot count the amount of times DH needed to change DC when they were a baby but there were no facilities so he had to do it on the floor!

So, again men being intrusive and going where they know they are not wanted.

Seems fine to me. I’m no more concerned about being assaulted by a co-worker in a locked, private cubicle than I am in an unlocked office or open place workspace where I have no privacy. Some of our loos at work have been unisex forever, exactly the same set up you describe.

I’m intrigued why you feel the need to post the fact that something was said in a work meeting and there was no issue with it.

Women have been vilified and lost their jobs over objecting to things like this. That might account for some of the silence.

It would be a no from me

Creepy Graham from IT following me into the lav, going in the next cubicle to have a wank while he imagines me p*ssing

Have you asked?

Women tend not to be consulted on these issues!

Asked whom?

These are facts.

Women need more space to deal with periods, are more likely to need a sink in the cubicle to deal with a mooncup or wash their hands after changing a tampon, and I believe women are more likely to have conditions like colitis and Crohn's that make those facilities essential.

When Invisible Women came out, MN was all about increasing women's access to suitable toilet facilities, which properly self contained unisex cubicles does.

I have worked in offices with similar facilities, and no matter how they start, they have always ended up being designated as women/ men. For all the reasons above - pee on the floor or toilets seats, too few sanitary bins etc.
So as others have said, designate based on sex and ensure all have some privacy.

And those should be in a single sex area. That would be ideal.

Still doesn't solve the problem of people having a medical emergency within the cubicle. Which can and does happen.

@liveyoungstayactive no, they do ask
Same as people will come and say there is no toilet paper, can they stock up both toilets or can they grab the spare hand wash from the men's

We intrude about as much on each others spaces, women probably more - if I need the toilet desperately then I would use the mens

lots of women wouldn't use the mens.

Just because you feel that you can it doesn't mean that everyone should have to share.

It is putting a urinary leash on minority women, particularly Muslim and SA survivors.

All to appease a tiny minority.

The block is a room off the corridor with individual floor to ceiling cubicles, with a sink in each

So why does it matter if they're unisex? Each toilet and sink is entirely private. Do you think you'll somehow be contaminated by the residual memory of a penis that was once present in the same cubicle? I absolutely do not see why this would be any kind of issue. Loads of restaurants and bars have a self-contained toilet, as do planes and trains, used by both sexes. What's the problem?

FWIW I've just spent some time in a city where the majority of public loos are unisex. Sometimes there's a separate sign for urinals, but not always, and the urinals are literally just urinals, there are no additional cubicles. So any men who need either a) need a shit or b) prefer not to whip it out and piss in front other people use the unisex loos and it's perfectly fine and nobody cares.

I'm also just back from a city where the majority of toilets were unisex.

I can't say it bothered me any way other than two:

Please put those little tab things on the toilet seat so that I don't have to handle the actual seat to put it back down.
Please have them cleaned throughout the day, shared facilities need cleaning more often.

@lifeturnsonadime it's not a big deal
I'm the first to say I don't want men in the women's toilets but these are sealed floor to ceiling rooms, someone going in to get hand cream is the equivalent of walking into an office to get a pen

Nobody is in there. I don't work with men that are dicks, they are all respectful as it's a very male heavy industry and as females in this industry we have to be loud. And we are, any slight hint of sexism is stamped on

Alternately we remove the signs and go back to totally unisex but this has worked fine for 7 years

If someone is going to shit themselves or is flooding from a period then we would all rather they used the other (meant to be unisex toilet) than did that

All our toilets have emergency cords like every single disabled toilet has. All disabled toilets are contained and unisex.

I like enclosed cubicles. As someone who has bowel disease, I appreciate having my own space, I also prefer my own cubicle with sink when I am on my period.

I have never worked in an office that doesn’t have cleaners. We haven’t had an issue with cleanliness.

If they're self contained like disabled toilets with a toilet, sink, mirror etc then I wouldn't have a problem with this. Cleanliness isn't just a man thing. Some women are vile. We had one who used to get her period blood all over the seat and just leave it. When told, she replied Just wipe it if you're squeamish about it.

But then saying that, our boss at another job (male) used to use the ladies as the mens was so gross and if he hadn't asked us you would honestly never know he'd been in there. Hygiene is a very individual thing.

That sounds well thought out.

The ones I've been in, not so much.

I do not think there is any form of statutory requirement for employers or public space service providers to have any emergency response system within a unisex toilet.

I've never seen one.

Again good for you.

Not a big deal for you.

That's great.

You don't get to determine how OTHERS feel about it.

@lifeturnsonadime we have a small and very close team, I'm not talking 100 people, there's maybe 20
NOBODY has an issue with it because we work in an environment that allows us to be vocal and open about issues
That's how we ended up with male/female signs in the first place!

If they did then management would probably just make it unisex like it's meant to be to stop the issue which would make it worse

Sometimes you can't choose, I've worked in shops with one toilet, what do people do then?

That's a common myth that leaves crucial factors out of the equation.

One, the lack of what Americans call potty parity. Women are almost always underserved capacity wise - given our different physiological needs and clothing patterns an equitable distribution would involve at the very least an 1:2 if not 1:3 ratio. Instead, in real life were mostly stuck with 1:1 (or worse if blokes get extra urinals in addition.) Should be pretty obvious that with the same cleaning schedule but much heavier usage of women's spaces the results will be visible.

Two, it's always a comparison with men's facilities including urinals - not with a bunch of blokes being given ordinary stalls but without a policy mandating sitting use only. Ever wonder why long-distance airline loos are so disgusting? It's certainly not down to women if you can't enter them without shoes sticking to floor..