Following the For Women Scotland judgment there has been a lot of drama about toilets. Transgender lobby groups and advertising agencies have argued that it is a breach of human rights not to allow men who identify as women to use women’s toilets, and the spectre has been raised of masses of businesses unable to meet their legal requirements. But it turned out that those “businesses” were mainly activists, many without employees or premises at all.
During the case of Good Law Project v Equality and Human Rights Commission, Sex Matters CEO Maya Forstater made a reference in her evidence to British Standard BS 6465 on toilets, which says in relation to public toilets: “Many men and women seek privacy, and many women and children feel safer when using single-sex facilities.”
Mr Justice Swift picked this up and asked for a written briefing from the parties on the British Standard and whether it comprises any form of legally enforceable obligation.
The British Standards Institution (BSI) is an independent body formed in 1901 under a royal charter. It provides reliably uncontroversial and detailed standards for everything from the width of pipes to the performance of horse-riding helmets.
The British Standard on “sanitary installations” is the reason why toilets in public places tend to have a familiar, standardised layout.
The British Standards provide recommendations to help duty bearers meet a range of legal obligations which relate both to building work and to the management and usage of services. There are somewhat different regulations across the UK nations, for workplaces in general and for different sectors such as education and healthcare. But the basic requirements are consistent.
You don’t need to be a lawyer or have a degree in sociology to decide how many of which type of toilets you need in a building, or who can use which ones.
The expectation that male and female facilities should be separate is woven through the standards, and they have a long history. The current version was published in 2006, but previous versions go back to 1952.
Article continues at https://sex-matters.org/posts/updates/happy-world-toilet-day/ ie has more details and examples than introductory paragraphs.