I started a thread the other day about supermarkets and toilets. I'd discovered that Tesco had quietly converted all its staff and customer toilets to mixed sex. And had a draconian compelled speech/belief policy for staff. I was/am very shocked. I knew Tesco did a bit of Pride flag waving but had not seen any changes to the toilets in the shop near me. If you want to see this thread it is here So my thread was about which supermarkets had toilets and policies which are in accordance with the law and the safety, privacy and dignity of women and children. I did a bit of online research and found the following. It may be helpful. We rely so much on these supermarkets and it can be very hard to change shopping habits for all sorts of reasons. So sometimes it is about making the best of a bad job for me. I am sure a lot of them were gungho for Stonewall etc at some point but many seem to have quietly dropped it in the public facing areas of their policies.
Tesco – Was no 15 in the Stonewall top 100 employers in 2023. While they seem to be happy to ignore the legislation protecting the sex-based rights of their female staff and customers they don’t seem too keen on making this clear to their customers. They proudly announce they have improved their Stonewall ranking by nine places. They also announce that the have been listed on the Times Top 50 Employers for Women 2 years running. But clicking on the link describes this this as ‘Gender Equality for Women’. The award was for Gender Equality. It’s all about gender not sex.
I feel very let down by Tesco as I always thought of it as a reasonably trustworthy company. If they have a policy of mixed sex toilets and haven’t made this clear they have been deliberately lying because they know it won’t be popular. If they thought it would get them support they would be advertising it. Duplicitous. I won’t shop there again. No reply to my tweet (or whatever X calls them now) and I shall write soon. I was about to buy a new set of non-stick pans from them but not now. https://www.tesco-careers.com/
Tesco is the only supermarket in the Stonewall top 100 list although I think many more are members.
Sainsbury – Another one keeping it all under the carpet. On the shop website there is a page devoted to all the various good causes/charities they support. But only one reference to gender/trans stuff with a piece about celebrating Pride month in 2022 and a lot about their support for various LGBT+ organisations up till 2022 but no mention of Stonewall and nothing much since 2022. Had to smile as the main outcome for all this LGBT+ activism seems to be an “expansion of our greeting cards range to recognise key dates such as Pride, Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day.” Bless. The detail is on the jobs/careers pages https://about.sainsburys.co.uk/sustainability/better-for-everyone/diversity-and-inclusion. As with Tesco (and this seems to be a common theme with all them) lots of expressions of support for all sorts of social issues, but little or nothing about women and no recognition of the fact that eg trans rights might conflict with women's rights (frequently renamed gender rights!).
Morrisons Nothing on the customer facing site. On the careers page “We're continuing to build confidence about starting up conversations around important subjects like sex, ethnicity, disability, race, religion and more. This is supported by our BAME, Women in Morrisons and LGBT+ internal communities”. And an advert for International Women’s Day. So very current. I think someone on the other thread mentioned they had taken a hammering on women’s rights in the recent past so maybe they have taken this on board. One I will consider as I have one reasonably handy. I got good vibes from it. A lot of support for the Armed Forces. Veterans returning to civilian life, reservists needing to train etc. That explains why my local store had a display with a WW2 Army uniform and it’s history. https://www.morrisons.jobs/life-at-morrisons/everyones-welcome-at-morrisons
Co-op They have a Diversity and Inclusion link on the footer of their main site. “We also educate colleagues in areas of diversity such as gender, LGBTQ+, disability and neuro diversity through events and learning sessions in National Inclusion Week, International Womens’ Day, Pride and International Day of Disability. We empower our Colleague Networks to educate and inspire from store level and beyond.” Somewhat alarming emphasis on 'educate' I think.
Iceland – Nothing about Diversity & Inclusion in its various guises. They have their own charitable foundation and the focus is on Dementia, Environment, Wellbeing, Children. They also support the Emergency Response Services in various ways. They have regularly won awards as a good employer. I was impressed with the shopping. They have an emphasis on online shopping and easy free delivery. They have all the pantry style products and brands I routinely buy and next day delivery is free if you spend more than £40 both online and instore. I think they will feature in my future shopping. Their own brand products have been free from artificial colourings and flavourings, non essential preservatives,and monosodium glutamate since 1986.
Asda – Nothing on the shopping website.* *LGBT+ issues are just one among a number in the careers section. No mention of Stonewall or other LGBT+ organisations. “we’ve created Colleague Resource Groups to help steer our efforts on this journey. They cover Accessibility, Ethnicity, LGBTQ+, Wellbeing, and Women in Leadership” All looked very mainstream and sensible.
Aldi – Nothing on the shopping site. They promote support for the Olympics Team GB and Paralympics Team GB. In the careers section they have an Equality & Diversity statement which correctly lists the protected characteristics in law and also covers harassment, bullying and disability issues. https://www.aldirecruitment.co.uk/about-us#equality-and-diversity.
Lidl – Nothing. No obvious careers/jobs section, but I was getting tired and may have missed it.
So, not every supermarket chain, but the major players and the ones I am likely to shop at. I think Iceland, Morrisons, Aldi and Asda are likely to be my Tesco replacements, more or less in that order.
No mention of toilets. This is not something that is featured as a reason to shop or not in the various outlets. But it is clear from comments on the thread that the removal of facilities exclusively for women has happened, eg Sainsbury’s. I feel like a bit of project coming on. I am going to contact all the main supermarkets and find out what facilities they have in store and how they comply or not with the Equalities Act. How their provision matches up with the expressions of support for various women’s issues on the websites. Given how dependant we all are on these stores the provision they make or don’t make should be an important part of the shopping experience they provide.
The issues for me are: are they complying with current legislation in provision for both staff and customers? If not why not? Do they understand why this is an important issue for women and children?
Does anyone have any more definite information on these?