Unisex toilets in new office - dread going into work

[SocialMol]

The company I work for moved to a new office a few weeks ago. It is brand new and shared 50/50 with another company. We have our own side of the floor, key card protected so completely separate.

However, the toilets are in the middle of the block so are shared with the other company. These are unisex - several cubicles with shared area for sinks/dryers etc.

The other company is a sales one (they run a call centre there) and the demographic of their workforce is mainly young men in their 20’s.

There have been several instances of inappropriate comments made to staff in the toilets. Crass stuff like ‘give that cubicle 5 minutes’ to cruder comments directed at or about women - the men will often be talking about their own colleagues in a derogatory way in front of us.

The final straw for me was this afternoon when I walked out of a cubicle and a spotty young lad said he will ‘join me next time’ 😷

Our company are aware of our concerns but said there’s nothing they can do, as the toilets are designed to be ‘inclusive’ and similar to the other modern office blocks they viewed.

I don’t really know what I’m looking for by posting this to be honest, just wanted to know if anyone else finds this sort of set up completely ridiculous?

I just wondered because it seems the law is clear about what is and isn't allowed so it seems unlikely that lots of institutions etc are breaking it. Whenever I've used toilets assigned to both sexes, they've always been cubicles with floor to ceiling walls and with a wash basin in the cubicle. It just seemed strange to me that OP hasn't been back to comment further.

It is irrelevant whether men want privacy from the opposite sex in the toilets too - that is not an excuse to sexually harass women.

When toilets become mixed sex, the design changes and they become private and it is the complete privacy that causes the problem.

The private area from the opposite sex should be the sink area. The cubicles should have door gaps (15cm is enough from floor-door) for safety, ventilation and easily cleaning. It prevents misuse.

Apologies - I've just seen that OP has been back to comment further.

But they can’t approach the other company and report sexual harassment against their own employees?

shame on your company. Seriously.

Its not the toilets that are the problem... its the behaviour of the dickheads using them.
Go down that route.
Sexist and inappropriate behaviour.

But surely they can make such inappropriate comments elsewhere? Wherever they occur, they should be reported. I think the loos are a separate issue and it sounds like they follow the HSE guidelines.

There are loads of well-funded LBGTQ+ organisations, like Stonewall, who have been training organisations and undermining the law by misrepresenting it and encouraging them to break it. DEI is a huge industry that promotes the demands of a select group at the expense of others, especially women.

Please quote the guidelines that are being followed.

Both are a problem. Women must not be sexually harassed and must be provided with single sex toilets in the workplace.

@Jimmyneutronsforehead I don’t think there’s anything wrong in using an accessible loo at work so long as no one with a disability is waiting- I’m in and out in minutes!
i feel uncomfortable and anxious using the unisex ones so if it ever became an issue( which it wouldn’t where I work) then I would be taking it further. I’m grateful I work somewhere where the men are incredibly respectful!

I think we’re permitted to try and mitigate all rape, whether the perpetrator is known to the victim or not. Who’s said otherwise?

The final straw for me was this afternoon when I walked out of a cubicle and a spotty young lad said he will ‘join me next time’

What did you say to this? I would have gone ballistic and would have followed him and reported him to his own company.

I would also be informing my company that i would be using external/public toilets toilets in the future. Yes, thats not practical, but not a chance i'd be using a unisex toilet. Going to the "ladies" is sometimes a chance for me to get 5 mins to myself, wash my hands, check my hair etc.

Yes - complain to your HR and the other company's HR. Practice your withering stare.

Eh? I thought unisex toilets were a modern thing? 'In the days' it was always Gents and Ladies.

In the distant past, there were just toilets. And they were for men. Because women didn't participate in public life. Single sex toilets originated in the nineteenth century when women started to enter the workforce. The term "the uninary leash" relates to the amount of time women could spend outside the house before needing to return to use toilet facilities.

The person who I quote tweeted, for a start. And several other posters on this thread have implied that it is pointless to try to reduce stranger rapes in toilets because most rapes are by someone known to the woman.

I think those toilets might be illegal - it is certainly worth checking. If unisex toilets are used in a workplace I am pretty sure each toilet had to be integral with a sink and dryer - not that this makes them safer, of course - if a door opens inward in such a space I always slam it hard right back!
I'd WFH till this was fixed. Quote SC judgement which referred to the regulations of 1995 about work place provision.

Actually it might. Unisex toilets are the place where a majority of sexual assaults take place according to gov figures.
Anyway, women have a right to dignity and privacy when using a toilet facility and the OP hates this system. You do not have the right to tell her to put up with it - she has the right to say she will not, and get it fixed.

Can't cope with? Like not getting raped/sexually assaulted/harassed in the workplace when using the toilet facilities. We have laws to deal with this. The toilets in question are illegal in the UK and no woman has to put up with harassment because you think it is ok. It's not okay and it is illegal.

So what?

I don't want to share toilets with males: either those that I know or those that I don't.

It is a risk. You think rapes don't happen in workplaces? And anyway, the facilities are illegal.

In the 1970s there would have been no men in the ladies. Which shows just how much we have regressed that the 70s were better!

You quote tweeted me in that post, that’s why I responded. I’m not sure if you mean the OP who commented about stranger rapes?

I responded with the stat for stranger rapes from the Rape Crisis page because I was shocked it was 1 in 2, clicked through and saw 6 in 7 are known, meaning 1 in 7 are not. I think every rape is horrendous, whether you know the person or not, but the idea 50% we’re strangers genuinely scared me and I wouldn’t want others to feel the same based on an incorrect stat.

You need to complian to HR. That kind of behaviour is harrassment.