Do gender neutral toilets deserve so much fuss?

NEVER could we have guessed the battle for gender equality would see us romanticising public toilets. Recently, gender neutral toilets have been headline-grabbing. Tramway, an arts and culture venue in Glasgow, converted lavatories to unisex, causing criticism.

East Renfrewshire Council was next. During the summer holidays, two primary schools in Giffnock and Clarkston saw their facilities turned sex-neutral. Parents were said to be “worried, angry and upset”.

The Home Office has recently converted staff toilets to sex neutral. A photo was leaked of a sign imploring male civil servants to please shut the cubicle door when relieving themselves. “Women are finding use of the toilets quite distressing,” ran the polite notice.

There’s something inherently loaded about “gender-neutral toilets” – it sets people off.

East Renfrewshire Council went wrong by not consulting parents first. In Glasgow new-build primaries are designed with unisex toilets and the council gave parents a heads-up.

The school lavatories have fully enclosed cubicles with shared sinks.

Puberty is a trying time and parents rightly want to ensure their child has the privacy and safety they need. Changes have been made for those reasons:, and also for the inclusion of all children. And there’s the rub: by “inclusion”, education departments mean “for trans children”. So criticism of unisex toilets is viewed as being intolerant, at best, and transphobic, at worst.

There’s currently a wide-ranging, divisive debate ongoing about trans rights and women’s rights and how these intersect or contradict. I imagine there are many people completely unaware of this element of public discourse. For many, the only time segregated spaces comes into their consciousness is in the discussion about toilets – a universal issue.

Repeatedly this week I’ve heard: “But you have a gender neutral toilet in your house.” Indeed. But we choose who gets to use that toilet.

In defence of sex-segregated spaces, comment pieces have waxed lyrical about public toilets as sanctuaries. In writing about Tramway’s new unisex loos this week I listened to women who have been raped and don’t feel safe in an enclosed space with men. From women who miscarried in public toilets and took comfort from being in a female space.

One woman expressed discomfort at washing out intimate items at sinks shared with men. Another expressed concerns on religious grounds.

These women all use gender neutral toilets at home. Claiming they should then, by extension, be comfortable doing so publicly, is facile in the extreme.

At Tramway toilets are now labelled either “cubicles” or “cubicles and urinals”. A simple signage change won’t fix a complex issue. How many women will opt to use the space that includes urinals? Not many. What these signs do, then, is to open up women’s spaces to men.

The trans community is one of our most vulnerable, subject to abuse, discrimination and social isolation. Their rights and needs must be respected and protected. So it’s right that organisations consider this issue as we seek ways to reduce the stigma trans people face.

However, there are genuine questions of practicality and implementing change requires conversations we must be free to have without accusations of intolerance or bigotry.

The answer could be new – and better – infrastructure. Or could it be to leave things as they are.

The answer is not to make changes without consultation. A proper public debate about public conveniences is long overdue.

Women all use gender neutral toilets at home. Claiming they should be comfortable doing so publicly, is facile in the extreme