To not feel comfortable using work's unisex toilets

[Whatafustercluck]

My employer is moving offices into a different building. All the toilets are unisex. Most of the men seem fine with this (those who made the decision to move there are men) while the women I've spoken with don't feel comfortable about this for various reasons, from cleanliness to embarrassment about male colleagues knowing they're on their period or whatever. I'm really not happy with this, but feel like it's expected to just get on with it and it's considered somewhat old fashioned to think/ feel this way. Aibu?

@Whatwouldscullydo

Self enclosed units pose theor own problems or do you not understand that?

The gaps under the doors enable you to see if: there's more than one person in them.

If someone's passed out. Epilepsy, allergic reactions , asthma attacks. Miscarriages/pregnancy haemorrhages.

Where do you go if you aren't feeling well.at work? The toilet that's where.

The accessible toilets have an alarm pull.

These self enclosed units don't.

This is ridiculous . People can be taken ill anywhere. Should we prevent people from having self-contained offices, or from working at home on their own in case they're taken ill?

I.work in retail.

I've experienced first hand the problems of abuse of toilets space. Space that becomes very difficult to police/supervise when the door is locked and there's no way of seeing if someone is inside or not.

If I locked someone in over night as I didn't know they were there I'd be I.alot of trouble..

I.wouldnt be in the same trouble at home which is unavoidable and obviously a huge worry for many people hence things like key safes, and alarms.

This would have been in the design plan from the get-go, as it is in almost all new builds. The OP had simply initially misunderstood, in her tush to moral panic.

You would hope that individual toilet rooms would be in the plans, however, this is not always the case. In my town the town hall is being refurbished and the mixed sex toilets are individual cubicles in a toilet block , accessed from a corridor through two doors. The cubicles have internal sinks and floor to ceiling doors but are not individual rooms. The plans also seem to indicate that they are just divided by partitions.

This would have been in the design plan from the get-go, as it is in almost all new builds. The OP had simply initially misunderstood, in her tush to moral panic.

It's a refurb and not a new build. The plans didn't originally have one toilet for men, one for women and two unisex but will be now I've raised it.

@Whatwouldscullydo

I.work in retail.

I've experienced first hand the problems of abuse of toilets space. Space that becomes very difficult to police/supervise when the door is locked and there's no way of seeing if someone is inside or not.

If I locked someone in over night as I didn't know they were there I'd be I.alot of trouble..

I.wouldnt be in the same trouble at home which is unavoidable and obviously a huge worry for many people hence things like key safes, and alarms.

Not comparable. Standard practice in this sort of situation is that, if as an employee you see a locked door in a public bathroom on the premises but can't get any response, you have to assume that there is someone in there who could have problems and take appropriate steps to break in. The only difference is that you have to break in rather than look under the door. If you ignored it you would rightly be in trouble.

@Whatafustercluck

OK, I have an update.

The toilets will be self contained, with floor to ceiling doors. Wash basins inside each cubicle. I've suggested they dedicate one cubicle for women, one for men, with the remainder unisex, giving people a choice. I'm now on the project group managing the move, so will continue to feed into planning.

Well done you!!!

There is nothing benefiting women in this change, so my answer would be no.

And for all those saying it wouldn’t bother them, listen to all the women saying it does concern them, and support women! Be a proper ally and not a handmaiden, please.

@Whatwouldscullydo

Drug use in toilets seem to also he a huge issue. That's another thing to consider when providing these fully enclosed spaces.

For the love of God!

@Whatafustercluck

This would have been in the design plan from the get-go, as it is in almost all new builds. The OP had simply initially misunderstood, in her tush to moral panic.

It's a refurb and not a new build. The plans didn't originally have one toilet for men, one for women and two unisex but will be now I've raised it.

Well that's embarrassing for you.

Nope, the only person who should be embarrassed on this thread is you @HandScreen as you clearly haven't even bothered to read the OP's posts.

Are you just here to tell women they're thick, ridiculous and vile transphobes? Because that seems to be about the size of it.

The gaps under the doors enable you to see if: there's more than one person in them.

If someone's passed out. Epilepsy, allergic reactions , asthma attacks. Miscarriages/pregnancy haemorrhages.

This happened in my previous office, albeit some years ago. A visiting client died of a heart attack in one of the unisex toilets. It was a very small company so there were only two toilets - one upstairs and one downstairs.

That said, I think we do need some kind of third spaces. My current office has the Ladies, the Gents and a row of unisex toilets (each one opens onto the corridor). I use these when I have my period because they’re the only ones with a sink in the cubicle.

@OnceuponaRainbow18

Ours are mixed sex at work- just ‘staff’ hadn’t even it a second thought to be honest

Same here. I work in a primary school and thinking about it... every school I've ever worked in are just "staff" toilets, rather than separate male and female. I've honestly never had any thought of a concern.

@zingally i have taught for over 2 decades now in many schools and i've never come across a school where there isn't a male staff loo. Often its been a single loo as men are lower in number in primaries, but there's always been a separate one. Or they've used disabled loo. There needs to be a male designated toilet for visitors, some of whom may require male only space just as some female visitors may. What on earth would your school do if a family member or a visitor at a meeting required one? I can't see a unisex option going down well with dome of our more orthodox visitors, even leaving aside my own wish for a women only wee.

Years ago way back in 95 I taught a brief course at a college and quite often the girls attending would be chaperoned by male relatives (don't get me started...) but they did use to wait outside the loos for them at least. If I went in they'd often all be in there not weeing just having a bit of a chat and quite often a sneaky fag.

Quite reasonable given that last week alone they'd have seen a year 2 teacher stripping off sick covered clothes and me dealing with a menopausal flood. It was like carnage in there.

Sorry somehow my 2nd paragraph ended up at the bottom there!

Not a fan of unisex toilets, the ones I've used seem to be drenched in piss, I might just be unluckily though.