Shaleeka Jayalath

Principal, Colombo School of Arts and Sciences.

This is an interesting conversation because when we speak of inclusion, we don’t consider the logistics. It is, for example, easy for us to say, let’s employ a trans individual because it is their ability to do the job that counts, not their gender. But having employed them, we then must ensure they are provided with washroom facilities in a manner that does not make them feel like outcasts. The world has lived through apartheid where coffee pots and washrooms in workplaces were designated white or coloured. Shower rooms in university hostels in Finland are now not only gender neutral, but some do not even have shower curtains to maintain any sort of privacy. It all boils down to what societies and cultures are comfortable with. But the bottom line is to have an option that neither makes anyone feel uncomfortable nor excluded. Gender neutral washrooms may therefore be the solution in addition to male only or female only washrooms. This would be particularly needed if say a transwoman has not undergone hormonal therapy or surgery so that they are still biologically male irrespective of their emotional leanings, as appears to be the situation in the case of Terry Smith who was granted access to a sorority house in a US university, but kept getting ‘turned on,’ thereby making the other housemates feel uncomfortable and unsafe. If certain female spaces such as sororities or girls-only hostels exist, it is understood that this is so because due to upbringing, experience or culture, women wish to feel safe, in which case their wishes should be respected.”