Mixed-sex loos are panned by women
Gender-neutral government toilets see ladies and gents clash over hygiene
THE writing may be on the toilet wall for the Scottish Government’s latest politically correct gesture – gender-neutral bathrooms.
Civil servants have said plans for unisex facilities are ‘potty’, while female staff have complained about men’s hygiene and behaviour and refused to share the new toilets.
The Scottish Government is introducing shared facilities as part of a building modernisation, stripping out separate bathrooms in Glasgow and Edinburgh – where more than 2,500 staff are based – and replacing them with mixed facilities.
A spokesman for the Public and Commercial Services Union said: ‘Some members of staff were concerned about the way the toilets were being used by men.
‘By all accounts males tended to be using them and not shutting doors. It has been potentially embarrassing to female staff – we have to remind people about showing dignity and respect.’
Yesterday Scottish Conservative equalities spokesman Annie Wells said: ‘This drive for gender-neutral toilets is being demanded by a select few to force home their ludicrous political views. Neither men nor women want them.’
The Scottish Government reported that it has incomplete figures for transgender staff, who supposedly benefit from genderneutral loos.
Its Equality Outcomes and Mainstreaming Report 2017 said 40 per cent of staff declined to give information, adding: ‘In December 2016, 59.7 per cent of staff provided information on sexual orientation, and 2.5 per cent declared as lesbian, gay, bisexual and other.’ Both Atlantic Quay in Glasgow and Victoria Quay in Edinburgh, which houses 2,100 civil servants, have recently been modernised and gender-neutral toilets were included in the plans, though some existing separate toilets remain. But at Atlantic Quay in Glasgow’s Broomielaw, where 528 Government staff work alongside 130 Scottish Enterprise staff, things have not gone smoothly.
At the shared cafe, women have traditionally used the left-hand lavatories and men the right-hand toilet. But after the refurbishment a new sign said both were ‘genderneutral’.
A male member of staff described the decision as ‘potty’. He said: ‘It is all cubicles, so in theory men and women and in-betweens can use either toilets. But women have complained about men leaving the door open, and the state they are in. The noise floats between cubicles and there is no privacy. It is confusing for visitors.’
A Scottish Government spokesman said there had been no official complaints, adding: “Diversity and equality considerations underpin all of our employment policies.
‘Providing gender-neutral and disabled-accessible toilet facilities forms part of this.’