@Mattressahoy send this:
Dear Next Customer Services,
I am writing to make a formal complaint about the fitting room arrangements in your Oxford Street store and to ask that this complaint is escalated to your Legal, Equality and Risk teams.
On my last two visits to the Oxford Street store, I used the fitting rooms on the Womenswear floor. On both occasions, male customers were present in that fitting room area. On one occasion, a man was sitting in the communal area. On another, a man was using a cubicle directly opposite mine.
On both occasions I was trying on swimwear. I was required to undress behind only a curtain, in an area I reasonably understood to be the women’s fitting room, because it was located on the Womenswear floor. I felt exposed, vulnerable and humiliated.
Your response states that all Next fitting rooms are open to all customers, regardless of which department they are situated in, and that they are not single-sex provision. That response is not acceptable.
The issue is not merely whether the signage says “Fitting Rooms”. The issue is whether a reasonable female customer entering fitting rooms located within Womenswear would understand those facilities to be intended for women, particularly where women may be undressing to try on underwear, swimwear, dresses or other intimate clothing.
Your current policy appears to impose a provision, criterion or practice that all fitting rooms are mixed-sex, including those located on the Womenswear floor. That policy is applied to all customers, but it places women and girls at a particular disadvantage compared with men.
Women are more likely than men to feel unable, unsafe, distressed, embarrassed or humiliated when required to undress in the presence or proximity of male customers. This is especially so where the only barrier is a curtain, where there is a communal area, and where women may be trying on swimwear, underwear, dresses or other garments requiring significant undressing.
The disadvantage is not theoretical. It directly affected me on both visits. I felt vulnerable and exposed while trying on swimwear with male customers present in the same fitting room area.
This disadvantage is likely to be greater for women and girls with religious or cultural modesty requirements, teenage girls, older women, women with trauma histories, women with disabilities, women who are menstruating, women who are breastfeeding, and women trying on intimate clothing. It is also likely to deter some women from using the fitting rooms at all, returning items in store, shopping in-store, or using Next’s services on equal terms with male customers.
That is why I consider Next’s current approach capable of amounting to indirect sex discrimination under the Equality Act 2010, unless Next can show that the policy is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim. I do not understand what legitimate aim would require men to be able to use the fitting rooms on the Womenswear floor when there are also fitting rooms in the Menswear department. Nor do I understand why any such aim could not be met by providing separate male, female and/or clearly marked mixed-sex facilities.
I therefore ask Next to explain how it has assessed this policy under the Equality Act 2010, including the risk of indirect sex discrimination. The Equality Act permits service providers to offer separate-sex and single-sex services where justified. Changing rooms and fitting rooms are an obvious context where privacy, dignity, decency and safety are legitimate aims.
I also ask you to explain why Next has decided not to provide a female-only fitting room on the Womenswear floor when the store also has fitting rooms in the Menswear department. If men’s and women’s clothing departments are already separated in-store, it is difficult to understand why Next cannot provide clearly marked female-only fitting rooms on the Womenswear floor, with separate provision for men and/or mixed-sex use elsewhere.
At the very least, if Next intends these facilities to be mixed-sex, that must be made completely clear before women enter and begin undressing. Small or ambiguous signage saying “Fitting Rooms” is not enough. Customers should not discover that a fitting room is mixed-sex only after they are already inside and partly undressed.
Please treat this as a formal complaint and provide the following:
1. Confirmation of whether the Oxford Street Womenswear fitting rooms are mixed-sex.
2. Confirmation of whether Next provides any female-only fitting room provision in that store.
3. A copy or summary of the Equality Act assessment, risk assessment, or policy decision supporting mixed-sex fitting rooms on the Womenswear floor.
4. Confirmation of whether Next has considered the impact on women and girls, including those with religious modesty requirements, trauma histories, disabilities, older women, teenage girls, and women trying on swimwear or underwear.
5. Confirmation of whether Next will now provide clearly marked female-only fitting rooms on the Womenswear floor, alongside any mixed-sex provision it wishes to offer.
6. Confirmation that, pending review, Next will clearly sign mixed-sex fitting rooms at the entrance so women can make an informed choice before entering.
If Next refuses to provide female-only fitting room provision, please provide your final response in writing so that I can consider my next steps. These may include taking legal advice, raising the matter with the Equality and Human Rights Commission, and sharing my experience publicly and with the media. I will of course ensure that anything I say publicly is accurate and based on my own experience and your written response.
I am not asking Next to treat anyone unfairly. I am asking Next to take women’s privacy, dignity and safety seriously, and to provide clear, lawful and properly assessed single-sex provision where women are expected to undress.
I look forward to your substantive response within 14 days.
Yours faithfully,