Campaign under way for non-gendered toilets at Warwick

Over 500 people have signed a petition asking Warwick to introduce non-gendered toilet facilities.

The campaigns team – called “toilets for all” on their contact email – are calling for the university to provide at least one non-gendered toilet block in each of the university buildings.

Currently the only facilities for non-gendered changing rooms are in the Warwick Sports Centre. Other buildings with non-gendered toilets are generally labelled as disabled facilities.

Warwick Sports Centre already has gender neutral changing facilities

They write: “Despite repeated requests for non-gendered facilities in the past, non-binary gendered individuals are still currently forced to choose between using male and female gendered toilet blocks in university buildings.

“Neither of these options are acceptable, and can result in extreme anxiety and harassment. No one should have to fear violence or harassment as a result of entering university toilet facilities.”

While the university does have some toilet and changing facilities which do not denote gender, and has an active policy “defending the right of all students to use the gendered facilities that they feel most comfortable in”, the campaign argues there should be the option to not have to choose between genders.

They write: “Gender non-conforming individuals often face severe harassment within gendered spaces, an issue also faced by transitioning trans people.”

This campaign joins a growing number of similar petitions across UK universities. Nottingham and Northampton universities have already introduced non-gendered facilities across their campuses, and Trevelyan College in Durham campaigned for the same earlier this year.

The petition can be found here.

A list of non-gendered facilities already available on Warwick campus can be found here.