Universities which do/don’t respect women’s rights

[Dragonasaurus]

As lots of yr 12/13 students are considering which universities to apply to, it might be interesting to share our understanding of how different universities treat women’s rights

i have specifically asked both Leeds and Bristol about access to single-sex toilets and changing rooms, and (perhaps unsurprisingly) no meaningful answer was forthcoming.

interested in other people’s experiences

I'd find that interesting too, thanks in advance for any insights.
Does anyone know anything about what Durham or York are like for women these days?

We could keep the thread really nice and short and just list the ones that do respect women's rights and uphold single sex provision.

As and when we find any.

😂

You could check which ones have SEEN networks.

Reading defended Rosa Freedman and employ Jo Phoenix. There was also a campus protest after the SC ruling when they told students to use the correct toilets for their sex.

UCL has a decent feminist network that is properly feminist and also voted to leave stonewall a few years ago. Parts of campus have mixed toilets but not everywhere.

I suspect it’s very very faculty dependent. Subjects like Sociology, Criminology, Creative Industries and Philosophy are likely to be totally captured. Business Schools not so much. My own institution has plenty of male, female and gender neutral toilets but still has an announcement on the website welcoming people to use whichever they prefer 🤦‍♀️.

🤦‍♀️
A friend was at Bath open day at the weekend, and noted that the toilets were labelled male and female, but of course she has no sight of internal instructions to use whichever…

Yes you’re right, the specific course/uni combo would be interesting. Please name change and share if possible, rather than not share because it’s outing 🙏

I'd be SHOCKED if york was less than full on TWAW

I know a couple of people at York. More TWAW than a TWAW thing on a TWAW day.

I think Jo Phoenix is collecting all of this data - not sure what is happening to this atm but hopefully universities will be embarassed into action

Oh that’s useful, do you know if she plans to publish it, or do I need to try contacting her directly?
Some of my friends have written to different unis, but not heard anything back so far. I’ll report back if that changes/when we feel they’ve had enough time & reminders to assume they are ignoring

A lot of the toilets at Hull are mixed sex but you can go to the other blocks to the old, separate toilets. I usually use the disabled ones in my building as I don't feel comfortable with all the men in the other toilets not to mention they are disgusting. More unflushed toilets than just ladies.

scores through York on list

I believe that Bath accommodations state that if you request LGBTQ-friendly accommodation, you cannot also apply for single-sex accommodation. I took that as meaning that they acknowledge that single-sex accommodation must do what it says on the tin. (I could be interpreting incorrectly…)

When Michael Foran was still at Glasgow their senior leadership defended him from the TRA bullies so I hope that university may be ok?

Edinburgh is, as we all know, beyond saving and totally captured

Actually she did say that too - that you could apply for single-sex or mixed-sex. She also thought that if you wanted you could indicate you were happy to share with trans people in mixed-sex accommodation - which all sounded great. After all, you’d hope uni’s were putting together groups who might get on, not trying to set up tensions from day one!
So Bath is def worth a look

I wonder how many women will apply for the sharing with a trans person option?

University of Edinburgh has a policy that “All students can use the toilet facilities that align with their gender identity” Trans Policy (Students).pdf.pdf (Paragraph 8.2).

There are many multiple-occupancy toilets on campus labelled M or F, but as the equality impact assessment for that policy admits: “The University recognises that, as a matter of law, access to facilities on the basis of gender identity makes those facilities mixed-sex rather than single sex facilities.” StatementStudentExperienceTransPolicy(Students)EqIAFeb_2025.pdf
Staff policies are the same.

If that puts you off going there, then please do write and tell them so.

There's a figleaf claim that “We mitigate this risk by providing single occupancy toilet facilities throughout our estate, alongside more open and/or mixed options”. While it's true there are some single occupancy facilities in some buildings, it's by no means common.

Stirling University has gender neutral toilets and I used to work at Glasgow university and still have friends there - they don't respect women's rights.

I'm assuming she intends to publish it and embarass the hell out of the sector (because most, if not all, won't be following the law) but haven't the foggiest idea about her timelines [for info to others on the thread, this is about Jo Phoenix collecting data on university policies about toilet and changing room access]

LSE has a few gender neutral loos with lots of loos labelled boys girls disabled. And thankfully left Stonewall too

My place was full on wokerati, but the advice that anyone should use the lavatories/changing rooms they felt aligned with their identity (which had been the trumpeted policy, written by trans students, apparently, not even grown ups!) magically disappeared from our website after the SC ruling.