The Government has announced that it intends to slow down the rise of gender neutral toilets in England in order to protect single sex spaces. As a result, changes are expected to be made to the Building Regulations SI 2010/2214 and associated guidance to ensure separate toilets for males and females are provided in public and private buildings or, alternatively, self-contained private toilets with their own hand basin are provided in new buildings.
The aim of the new policy is to ensure that equality is ensured for those who may not currently feel safe whilst using toilet facilities. This includes women and transgender people who might be concerned about being verbally or physically assaulted whilst using toilet facilities.
This decision comes after the Government launched a review in October 2020 which aimed to gather evidence regarding toilet provision for men and women. It was launched because evidence showed that the rise of gender neutral toilets caused issues "for women and older people in particular".
A ministerial statement in July 2022 by Kemi Badenoch, Minister for Equalities, Local Government, Faith and Communities, said that gender neutral toilet facilities place women at a disadvantage, given biological, health and sanitary needs. The statement gave the example of women who are menstruating, pregnant or at menopause who might need to use the toilet more often. Furthermore, males can use a urinal and females can't, meaning there is a higher transition of males though facilities and an insufficient number of cubicles to allow for the same number of females to use the facilities.
Concerns were also raised that gender neutral facilities means that the public have been "forced to share cubicle and hand-washing facilities, leading to increasing waiting in shared queues, decreasing choice and a limitation on privacy and dignity for all."
As such, the new rules will state that all new non-domestic public and private buildings, and those going through a major refurbishment, will have to have:
and mixed sex shared facilities will not be an option, unless the lack of space only allows a single toilet.
Ms Badenoch said, "It is important that everybody has privacy and dignity when using public facilities. Yet the move towards ‘gender neutral’ toilets has removed this fundamental right for women and girls. These proposals will ensure every new building in England is required to provide separate male and female or unisex facilities, and publish guidance to explain the difference, protecting the dignity, privacy and safety of all.”
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