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Writer's pictureanonymous woman

At my former workplace it was decided, without consultation, that one toilet block would become 'all genders.' This particular block was female, so there would now be one fewer female toilet block in the building. A number of female staff were upset, but didn't dare speak up. I said it was sexist and discriminatory, but was met with incredulous stares from management. I also asked why one of the male blocks was not converted to 'all genders.' We were told we had to be inclusive, as we sometimes had non-binary and trans staff members.The building was largely, but not exclusively, used as a language centre, with most students and the overwhelming majority of staff being female. There were often queues for the women's toilets (even before the introduction of the 'all genders' block), and of course we have many extra needs/biological functions that men do not, so tend to take far longer to do what we need to... There were also no dedicated disabled/all access single lockable toilets, or dedicated spaces for women to breastfeed. I once saw a group of women who were a attending a conference there - they all had small babies and were changing them on the carpet in a small nook off a hallway, as there was nowhere else! This was still going on in early 2020, just before I left. A very unfriendly place for women.


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