Gender-neutral toilets are forcing girls to skip school during periods because they feel unsafe, teachers say
Gender-neutral toilets set up in schools have reportedly left girls feeling unsafe and put their health at risk.
Parents and teachers have warned that, during their menstruation, the girls get anxious to use the gender-neutral washrooms. Some also resort to staying back at home because they fear of being period shamed. With a slew of primary and secondary schools continuing to install gender-neutral toilets, some girls are also choosing not to urinate the entire day, which creates a high risk for infections. Some girls have stopped drinking fluids at school because they're afraid of having to urinate in the gender-neutral toilets.
The switch to gender-neutral toilets was made in order to be more inclusive towards kids who identify themselves as transgender and want to use the opposite gender's facilities. However, on Saturday, October 6, doctors and politicians ordered schools to put a stop to the gender-neutral washrooms to avoid any future harm to the girls.
Doctors and teachers who spoke to Daily Mail said some girls feel unsafe and uncomfortable using the unisex toilets. GP Tessa Katz revealed that holding in urine for a long time continuously increases the rise of girls getting UTIs. "The psychological effects of girls not feeling safe enough to use mixed-sex toilets is also concerning," Katz said.
Meanwhile, the sudden rise in gender-neutral toilets have created a backlash from most parents who claim they weren't even made aware of the change and that they weren't consulted before the schools made such changes.
The most recent implementation of unisex toilets was at Deanesfield Primary School in South Ruislip, West London. The parents whose kids go to this particular school started a petition last month against the installation of gender-neutral washrooms.
An angry mother who has two daughters aged four and eight said, "The cubicles were open at the bottom and top so older pupils can easily climb up the toilets and peer over."
Stephanie Davies-Arai from the parent campaign group Transgender Trend revealed that schools were being wrongly informed by trans activist organizations that they would be breaking laws of equality if they didn't create gender-neutral toilets. She went on to add that there are clear exemptions under the equality laws that are currently present which state that it was legal to have toilets that are single-sex.
A Deanesfield spokesperson revealed, "We will continue to support parents with any individual worries or concerns they have."
Tory MP David Davies, who has supported feminist claims that state transgender rights are overwriting the women's rights, said, "If girls are not comfortable sharing toilets with boys then schools should make provision for them, rather than saying girls have got a problem."