It’s time to TELL the civil service to follow the law

We’re calling on the government to take the three steps that are urgently needed to protect everyone who uses or values single-sex spaces and services. We’re asking you to write to your MP demanding action. 

This email campaign has now finished – thank you to all those who wrote to MPs.

So far more than 2,000 people have written to their MP. This is the third of three blog posts about our asks. 

3. Tell the civil service to follow the law across the government’s own operations and buildings

The ongoing scandal of workplaces that allow trans-identifying male employees to use women’s toilets, changing rooms and showers – and let male visitors use women’s toilets – is continuing even in the government’s own buildings. The law is perfectly clear, particularly for workplaces, which are subject to the 1992 Workplace Regulations. Adequate separate facilities for women and men are a legal requirement. 

The Palace of Westminster, which houses MPs and peers and their staff, has sorted itself out, restoring clarity over who can use the women’s and men’s toilets, and signposting unisex toilets that can be used by either sex for anyone who prefers them. 

But many government offices have relabelled men’s and women’s toilets as “gender-neutral” in recent years, even though they do not meet the legal standard of being single-occupancy fully contained rooms. Some have signs asking users to close the door when using them – something never seen in a women’s toilet.

It is hardly surprising when civil service departments and agencies for a long time competed to be ranked in the Stonewall Top 100 Employers list, instead of following the law. 

Separate-sex toilets may seem like a small thing, but they are important for everyday dignity and privacy. They protect women and girls from the risk of voyeurism and exposure by men, and they make everyone feel more comfortable. 

Claims that it is expensive or unworkable to expect people to follow ordinary sex-based rules do not hold water. These offices all operated separate men’s and women’s facilities for many years, and can do so again. They already have unisex alternatives so no-one has to feel uncomfortable. There really is no excuse for not following the law. 

Even as the Darlington nurses are in court making the case for male-free changing rooms at work, the government is presiding over unlawful policies like these. It should be leading by example.