Men should be banned from using women's changing rooms at work

The Women's Rights Party is calling on the Coalition Government to ban public sector policies that allow males identifying as women to access women employees' changing facilities.

On Friday a group of UK nurses from Darlington Memorial Hospital won their employment-tribunal claim challenging a workplace policy of the NHS Foundation Trust that employed them which allowed men identifying as women to use their changing rooms.

The judgment concluded that the hospital's "Transition in the Workplace" policy was unlawful. Employment Judge Seamus Sweeney ruled that the NHS had violated the nurses' dignity and that the trust's conduct amounted to harassment.

He said allowing the "trans colleague" to share changing facilities had created a "hostile, intimidating, humiliating and degrading environment".

After the nurses formally complained in March 2024 that a trans-identified male nurse accessing the nurses' changing room was watching them getting undressed as they changed into their uniforms, the women were told by Human Resources that they needed to "be more inclusive", "broaden their mindset" and "be educated and attend training".

Dozens of female staff complained and eight nurses sued their employer for sexual harassment and sex discrimination in what is regarded as a landmark case following the UK Supreme Court's clarification of the meaning of "sex" in the UK Equality Act.

The nurses also met with Health Secretary Wes Streeting to urge the Government to do "whatever is necessary" to ensure women have access to single-sex toilets and changing facilities.

Women's Rights Party Co-leader Jill Ovens says similar women-unfriendly policies are today operating in workplaces across New Zealand. The policies were promoted by the former Labour Government and embedded throughout the public service, as well as Health NZ.

The Government's employment website provides employers with specific guidance on the use of facilities that match employees' gender identity as being particularly important for "trans people".

The guidance states: "An employee should be able to use facilities that match their gender identity, for example: trans women should be able to use a women's toilet, and trans men should be able to use a men's toilet. While a unisex toilet is a positive way to ensure facilities are inclusive (and may be more comfortable for a trans person early in their transition), a trans employee should not be stopped from using the appropriate single-sex toilet."

The Women's Rights Party says there is no consideration of the rights of women employees to dignity and privacy in "Gender Diversity and Inclusion" policies, which are in place throughout public service organisations, and which Health NZ inherited from the former District Health Boards.

"The policies have pitted women's sex-based rights against rights based on "gender identity". The fact is that women overwhelmingly predominate in our public services, including in the health sector and yet women's rights have not been considered," Jill Ovens says.

The assumption is that "gender identity" overrides "sex" in terms of discrimination. In its "Discrimination Against Transgender People", Employment New Zealand incorrectly states that transgender people are protected under the HRA from unlawful discrimination on the grounds of gender identity in the workplace.

There are 13 protected grounds of discrimination under the HRA. "Gender" and "gender identity" are not one of these. On the other hand, "sex" is a prohibited ground of discrimination in the HRA.

"That the legislators added "including in pregnancy and childbirth" clearly indicates they were meaning "sex" in the biological sense of the word," Jill Ovens says.

Where provisions based on concepts of "gender" or "gender identity" have been introduced into the workplace, the rights of women employees have not been considered. Women employees have not been consulted about changes in policies and practices that adversely impact on them or have the potential to impact on them.

"We are concerned that, in the name of incusivity, women have been excluded, including in their workplace," Jill Ovens says.

She says the sex-based rights for women guaranteed in the HRA must be respected in policies and practices, such as the right to single-sex spaces. She urges the Government to make it clear in the HRA that such rights also apply in employment.

The attitude encountered by the Darlington nurses with their employer has been challenged here in New Zealand by former Inland Revenue employee Christine Massof who was told in a "letter of expectations" that her comments challenging gender-based policies on an internal IR network had upset and offended some people. She was told that "they have the right to be offended" and that her views needed to align to IR's views that were supportive of "gender".

Christine Massof was told that if she was unsure which of her views might be perceived as offensive or divisive, she should refrain from sharing her opinions altogether and remain silent.

Jill Ovens says IR did not seem to recognise the contradiction of being an "inclusive workplace" valuing diversity of thought, beliefs, backgrounds and capabilities, while asking an employee to self-censor her views. The case is heading to the Employment Court later this year, following an Employment Tribunal hearing that exonerated IR.

During the Tribunal hearing, IR argued it didn't need to consult women employees about "transgender access" to staff toilets and changing rooms as there was no specific policy and "staff were free to use whatever facilities they feel most comfortable using".

However, guidance and advice provided to leaders, teams and individuals in the Public Service titled "Transitioning and Gender Affirmation in the Public Service" and developed by Te Kawa Mataaho Public Service Commission and members of the Cross-Agency Rainbow Network (CARN) is intended to be used by any organisation in the public service.

The advice states: "Your workplace should ensure you can use bathroom facilities (including toilets, showers and changing areas) that are appropriate to your affirmed gender. Let your people leader or Human Resources know if you experience any issues."

Allowing males to use toilets and changing rooms matching their "gender identity" potentially breaches women employees' rights to dignity and privacy, as found in the case of the Darlington nurses.

In her submission in the IR case, Jill Ovens also argued that allowing men to access women's changing rooms was a health and safety issue that should have involved worker engagement (s59 Health and Safety at Work Act 2015).

Instead, Christine Massof's experience showed that women in IR are discouraged from raising concerns about what they see as a health and safety issue, their views are dismissed, suppressed and the women are silenced.