This is some BULLSHIT - female toilets at work

[HonestlyPromisely]

Main building and separate smaller building

Smaller building (where I work) is very very old. Roughly 60 women and exactly TWO men work in there.

Female toilets are constantly blocked out of use. When this happens we have to traipse over to the main building. They’ve been out of action for two weeks now and maintenance have put an email around to say they will not be fixing them as building is due to be torn down in 6 mths and they will just keep breaking.

Women will have to walk over to main building (about 50m away) to use the loo

Why the fuck can’t the men go to the main building and we have the mens toilets which apparently work absolutely fine?! They have 3 cubicles and 2 urinals, we have 3 cubicles.

AIBU here? Shouldn’t the two men be asked to go over to the main building given there’s only bloody two of them?

@RedToothBrush

It is 50m outside! That is a long way if it is pouring and 2 degrees

OMG All those women are going to get hypothermia and DIIIIEEEEE in the torrential rain over than huge distance.

All that way, how will the high heels cope with that?

The different needs though don't stop women walking 50m to the toilet though! hmm No wonder people say on here women aren't taken seriously when they're complaining about walking 50m!

Completely irrelevant to the point I made which made no mention of distance, but keep on defending lack of hygiene provision for women by all means.

I don't think I've ever worked anywhere where the closest toilets are only 50m away! If it was a 5 minute walk each way then you might have a point OP (although I'd agree with the posters who are saying you should take it up with the maintenance rather than the men), but 50m! How do you ever leave the house if that's too far a distance to go to the loo? Walking from the entrance to the toilets in my local (not particularly big) supermarket is further than that. If you actually had to walk to the back of the shop to get your bread that's 3x further!
While female continence etc is of course a serious issue, I'd query how someone who couldn't make it 50m manages in daily life.

In point of fact though, the OP said the buildings are 50m apart, not that its 50m to the loo. We have a couple of buildings slightly further apart. To use a loo in the other building I'd need to go down several floors, through several doors and security, cross road to other building, in through security and then up to the lowest floor we have in that building. Put on a coat and umbrella first when its wet or cold. Multiply that by five times a day at least when I had severe bleeding problems (1 in 4 women get this at some point in life).

Oh and I'm of limited mobility so heavy office doors are a problem and I'd be a fraction of the speed.

Regulations have ratios of sex segregated or fully enclosed loos per person within the building for a reason. What you are anyone else things about trotting down the road to go to the loo is not the issue - the regulations were put there to reflect wider needs than individuals only interested in their own needs.

@C8H10N4O2

The different needs though don't stop women walking 50m to the toilet though! hmm No wonder people say on here women aren't taken seriously when they're complaining about walking 50m!

Completely irrelevant to the point I made which made no mention of distance, but keep on defending lack of hygiene provision for women by all means.

I don't think people are defending that, they're defending that the men shouldn't be put out to facilitate it.

The company should get the toilets fixed.

@GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing

They should just make the toilets unisex and close the urinals.

And take the outer door off! You can’t have a unisex toilet with an enclosed area between cubicles and main corridor.

Everyone should have proper toilet provision regardless of numbers anyway

Having to go to another building for the loo would make me extremely anxious

Is this true? Where could I find a link to this? My work has exactly this- 2 mixed-sex toilets with a tiny handwashing area (as in, you have to turn sideways to squeeze past each other) and it's the handwashing area that makes me really uncomfortable.

Here you go @ViceLikeBlip. The relevant legislation is the Workplace (Health Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992. It sounds like what your employer has provided is not legal, if the cubicles aren't in separate rooms with their own sinks. bakerstuart.com/guides-officetoiletprovision/

I don't think people are defending that, they're defending that the men shouldn't be put out to facilitate it

That is exactly what posters are doing. Note the sneery posts saying "I can cope so everyone should do" or failing to understand the difference between 50m between buildings and a 50m walk to the loo as they sneer at the silly women making a fuss in their heels.

I don't know how many screenshots the OP was after but boy, they got them.

The company should get the toilets fixed

Completely agree, they should also raise them to an adequate number.

However in a temporary situation where the staff fall into a group of two and a group of over fifty it makes more sense for the hypothetical employer to temporarily move the group of 2 whichever way it falls (subject to any overriding needs within the groups such as accessibility).

That is exactly what posters are doing. Note the sneery posts saying "I can cope so everyone should do" or failing to understand the difference between 50m between buildings and a 50m walk to the loo as they sneer at the silly women making a fuss in their heels

Christ almighty. I genuinely wonder about the lives of people who think that is an 'alright jack' thing to suggest that walking 50m to the loo is a major issue. Its a minor inconvenience. Thats it.

@C8H10N4O2

I don't think people are defending that, they're defending that the men shouldn't be put out to facilitate it

That is exactly what posters are doing. Note the sneery posts saying "I can cope so everyone should do" or failing to understand the difference between 50m between buildings and a 50m walk to the loo as they sneer at the silly women making a fuss in their heels.

I don't know how many screenshots the OP was after but boy, they got them.

The company should get the toilets fixed

Completely agree, they should also raise them to an adequate number.

However in a temporary situation where the staff fall into a group of two and a group of over fifty it makes more sense for the hypothetical employer to temporarily move the group of 2 whichever way it falls (subject to any overriding needs within the groups such as accessibility).

But that's exactly what it is. Women making an (unnecessary) fuss.

Wow. Just share the toilets! (obviously close the urinals) but at that ratio, you are very unlikely to see a man in the toilet. I've worked at many places with unisex toilets, there is no issue. What would piss me off though is why can't your work just fix your toilets.

[quote Orchid876]Here you go @ViceLikeBlip. The relevant legislation is the Workplace (Health Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992. It sounds like what your employer has provided is not legal, if the cubicles aren't in separate rooms with their own sinks. bakerstuart.com/guides-officetoiletprovision/[/quote]
Thank you!