SILENT AND INSIDIOUS MISTREATMENT OF WOMEN

[Charlesdavey]

𝐓𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐬?” “𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚 𝐰𝐞𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦?”

Support a petition and show that women count. It takes 2 minutes!

The government wants women (and men) to exercise!

In its 2017 report "𝘛𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘪𝘴𝘴" the 𝐑𝐨𝐲𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 called for fairer provision of public toilets for women. It noted 50% of people restrict their fluid intake before going out, leading to dehydration and health problems, with 20% of people limiting how often they went out. Nothing has changed.

It is worse! 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐌𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐉𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥 April 2026 "𝘛𝘰𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘌𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥: 𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘸𝘦𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮?"describes a severe public health crisis. https://www.bmj.com/content/393/bmj.s795

This issue disproportionately affects women. On 4 June 2026 the National 𝐖𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧’𝐬 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐭𝐞 conference called for

“𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦, 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘯, 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤 𝘵𝘰𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯, 𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦, 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘴”

Please support this petition, unsupported for 5 months until 3 weeks ago. Use link below or search PETITION TOILETS UPDATE - takes you straight there. 𝐓𝐞𝐧 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭! 𝐓𝐰𝐨 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐬! 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/753731

This petition is for new buildings. Let it be the first step in a campaign for fairer (NOT EQUAL) toilet facilities for women. There is much that can be done, even in old theatres. It is time to stop treating women as second class citizens. It is time for couples to spend the intervals at the theatre together!

Vote – especially if your MP supports women’s rights, as the number of votes in each constituency is visible. Give your MP the support to raise this issue. Please vote and encourage others to vote.

We do not need 100,000 votes, only enough in 10 days to persuade women’s organisations that there is support out there for a co-ordinated launch of a more radical petition which is promoted from day one.

You may think this a small issue, but it is indicative of a silent and insidious attitude that women do not count! It is time to change this! 10 days is enough time! Vote now!

If you have the power to promote this petition, please do so, and join the Women’s Rights Network and other recent supporters.
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/753731#data
Petition: Update building regulations to require more women’s toilets in public buildings.
petition.parliament.uk

Unclear what building control regs you want changed?

What are the rules now and what do you propose they should be?

I also note you say:

"This issue disproportionately affects women. On 4 June 2026 the National 𝐖𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧’𝐬 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐭𝐞 conference called for
“𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦, 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘯, 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤 𝘵𝘰𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯, 𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦, 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘴”

The WI has been captured by the trans-brigade. They believe men who say they are women are women, and want women's toilets to be 'inclusive' of these men. No thanks.

@Keeptoiletssafe One for you...

The Building (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2024 amended the existing regulations to require male and female single-sex toilets.

The regulations can be amended again to require more space for women's toilets, as is the case in some states in the US and in Canada. Some experts have called for two female cubicles for every male cubicle. Makes sense to me as a good starting point. If that does not work, the rules can be changed again.

As to biological males identifying as females being allowed into women's toilets I totally agree. I was extremely disappointed by Ed Davey's letter to Bridget Philipson stating that there is no conflict between women's rights and transgender rights. That is nonsense. Of course there is a conflict. Women deserve save spaces. An absolute red line for me.

It’s a problem I agree. We already have British Standards BS6465 that have calculations for how many toilets women should have to achieve equity with men. However it is incredibly difficult to access them - British Standards 6465 are over £1k for all the 4 parts.

Of course what should happen is that building toilet refurbishments and new builds are designed by people who know the standards inside out. However, that doesn’t happen in real life. If non experts do look it up, they will get Approved Document T (ADT) at least. For numbers, ADT refers to Approved Document G. Approved Document G leads to:
https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg293.pdf
by the Health and Safety Executive which has 2 tables implying men don’t have washbasins and also get more units (wc + urinals) than women in provision (!).

There are references to British Standards 6465 that crop up all over the place for numbers. For example here:
‘The average time a woman spends in a WC is 90 seconds. The average time a man spends in a WC is 210 seconds. The average
time a man spends at a urinal is 35 seconds. Average overall time for a man to use the gents is 45 seconds. Therefore, the
average time a person takes to use the facilities should be taken as 1.5 minutes for a woman and 0.75 minutes for a man BS6465
– Part 4 11.2.3.4.2; 11.2.3.4.3’
Also: Research indicates that women require at least double the provision made for men; so if the provision for men is 10 facilities (the total number of urinals + WCs), the provision for an equal number of women should be 20 WCs.

in this document:
https://www.publicinconveniences.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/PublicInConveniences-Susan-Cunningham-Third-Edition-2015.pdf

And also here in 2.2 and 2.3:
‘The number of units required for male
and female WC’s should be calculated
separately as T (time a person takes to
use the facility) is 0.75 minutes for men
and 1.5 minutes for women.’ From BS6465-4:2010, 11.2.3.4.3 Time a person takes to use the facilities.
https://www.networkrail.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/NR_GN_CIV_200_04-Public-Toilets.pdf

Approved Document T references British Standards it’s just that it doesn't mention numbers as it is abridging so much information. The problem being people won’t realise it’s much more involved than ‘just’ using ADT.

But yes, to be fair, women should have twice as many units as men. For economic and historical reasons that’s only likely to happen when people refurbish. Should there be more awareness of numbers? Absolutely.

That’s a yes then?

Can you ask your local library to obtain the Standard docs for you, KTS? There must be some public copies available somewhere and libraries seem a good place to start looking for them .

Thanks for the details about the Regs.
I do hope that you will sign the petition and hopefully persuade close family to sign it. The point remains that there is a serious problem here. If this petition gets some traction, then women's groups will encouraged to press for enforcement of existing regs and provisions to make changes to existing buildings. Women cannot be expected to queue for the next decades awaiting refurbishment.