Advice needed on corporate trans policy

[Chilver]

My company is (in my opinion) naively entering the trans debate and setting policy around transgender in practice in the workplace. I have got myself involved and am asking questions to guide and hopefully safeguard the most vulnerable and protect sex based rights in the workplace. I questioned the use of sex based facilities for transitioning/ ed colleagues and got this in response:

1. For someone who is transitioning they would use available uni-sex toilets (often handicapped).
2. For someone who has transitioned they would use the toilets of the sex they have transitioned to.

I want to question for pt 2 what they mean by 'transitioned' in that do they mean someone who has had surgery and therefore no longer has working sexual organs of their biological sex or do they mean someone with a GRC or just someone who has 'self-id' as transgender?

Wise women of Mumsnet, how do I point out the ambiguity in their 'policy' and the safeguarding issues to women that this may present?

I’m sure transgender trend will have some advice on it. I would query how this would work with protected characteristics of sex, race and religion? Gender reassignment is a protected characteristic but self I’d isn’t. Not sure how you distinguish between the two.

You can point out to them that the Equality Act protects single-sex provision and that the current trend and advocacy of self declaration and identification as trans or or non binary or various other notional descriptors, if treated as a blanket legal right, would enable that to be undermined by all and any biological males, at the expense of the rights, comfort, privacy and safety of women and girls.

Add that the Act does make specific limited provision relating to trans - quote the actual words re gender reassignment - but that doesn't override the rights and needs of women for the protection available under the Act.

Suggest as a practical and precautionary measure to ensure that women's single-sex facilities do not become de facto mixed sex - since a woman cannot be reasonably expected to know or to enquire who is who when meeting in the enclosed private space of the women's toilets - that self declaring, non binary and all the other men not within the trans provisions of the Act - be accommodated in other facilities. With that in mind they may then begin to see why this is the obvious way of providing for trans while keeping necessary single-sex facilities.

Depending on the size and layout of the building, you could make proposals for allocating the facilities to women, men, trans and self declaring non-binary - alternative floors or whatever that would facilitate keeping separate provision. Also, is there any demand for it in the workplace? There is some evidence from places that have made changes, that both women and men hate it when the facilities are mixed.

Thanks Abitofalark, that's useful. This policy would cover multiple offices around the country. Currently there is only one known trans person within the company who this would apply to and is only coming to light now - but as I said, only one known, there could be others. This dialogue I am having is not directed at this specific person; more the fact we need to have had the conversations at management level to ensure that we are not caught short in the future should any need or indeed, incident, arise.