COUNCIL SCORE SHEET.
How does your Council measure up when it comes to providing safe and private facilities for women and girls?
We asked every City and District Council in NZ the same six questions.
Check below to see if your Council is courageous, captured or dangerously confused!
WHAT DID WE ASK?
1. Do you provide communal single-sex changing and showering facilities?
2. Do you provide single occupancy changing and showering facilities? If so, how many at each site?
3. Please provide any policies or procedures that apply to trans-identified people who wish to use the changing and showering facilities in your sites.
4. How are your different changing and showering facilities labelled and described?
5. At your sites, which changing room and showering facilities is a trans-identified male permitted to use?
6. If applicable, do your facilities allow trans-identifying males to attend Women Only swim sessions?
WHAT IS THE GOLD STANDARD?
So what are we looking for when asking these questions?
Council facilities such as swimming pools are public facilities and they need to be managed in such a way that makes them accessible to all members of the public. Particular attention is often paid to things such as disabled access and parking, families with young children.
How Councils acheive this is in some ways up to them, so there is no single gold standard. But in general this is what a good, woman and child friendly facility should look like:
-
Clear accurate signage. If it says "female", it should mean female. We have a graphic for this here. This is a strong argument and will go a long way towards highlighting the issue. Most people using single-sex spaces don't imagine that someone of the opposite is welcome to use that same space. Once they know they can take action!
-
Single occupancy toilet, shower and changing units with enough availability to meet the needs of the facility users. (see our advice on Universal Changing Rooms).
-
Communal single-sex changing rooms, showers and toilets.
-
A clear policy that allows people to use either the space that matches their sex or a Universal Changing Room. Spaces for the opposite sex are off limits regardless of a claimed gender identity or birth certificate change.
-
Anything less is simply not good enough.
It's worth remembering that Councils do not have to provide single sex communal spaces - but they do have to provide somewhere for everyone. In theory they could provide a large number of single occupancy rooms, each containing a shower - and this would suffice. It would be expensive and impractical, but it might meet the requirements.
WHAT CAN WE DO?
Be clear on what your Council is actually offering. Is there a space where you can shower and change with no possibility of someone of the opposite sex being present - even if that person is following the current rule? Get in touch with us if anything needs clarifying.
Demand clear signage - if your facility says a changing room is for females but their policies are ambiguous or blatantly allow males to use the space, call them out - make them label it accurately. Stop the stealth and draw attention to the reality of the situation. Many Councils are "fence sitters" - not fully captured but lacking the courage to stand up to this nonsense. Let your community know!
If they are available, use any single occupancy spaces that are available. Ask staff if it's ok for you to use them and explain why. Using disabled facilities is a last resort.
If your Council has policies that permit people to use the facility that matches their gender identity rather than their sex and there are no single occupancy spaces available for you, the Council is failing to provide suitable access for you. Start a complaint via the Human Rights Commission.
Many of the Council's answers are ambiguous and vague. A policy needs to be clear and workable. Either a Council is respecting sex or they are not. If they are not then we can take action.
A serious concern out of this exercise is that at least 19 of the Council responses referenced the Trans and Gender Diverse Guidance for exercise and recreation providers - produced by Qtopia and InsideOUT – both small but vocal trans rights organisations. This document is demonstrably full of disinformation and has been written exclusively from a trans rights perspective. It disregards and/or erases the concept of Sex as a protected characteristic and erases the right of women to privacy and dignity.
Email your council - there is a link to the contact email for each Council on its main page.
Ashburton District Council
Captured
Q1: Do you provide communal single-sex changing and showering facilities?
Yes – our EA Networks Centre facility has 4 male and 4 female changing rooms with showers and toilets – 6 of these can be changed to suit facility need – IE a large single sex sports tournament.
Q2: Do you provide single occupancy changing and showering facilities? If so, how many at each site?
Yes – we have 9 around the facility however these are provided for the use of people with disabilities, family groups or individuals who prefer to use single occupancy facilities.
Q3: Please provide any policies or procedures that apply to trans-identified people who wish to use the changing and showering facilities in your sites.
As we follow Recreation Aotearoa’s Trans and Gender Diverse Guidance for Exercise and Recreation, there is no need to have individual policies or procedures.
‼️ SUFW note: on page 8, RA encourages organisations to develop specific policies.
Q4: How are your different changing and showering facilities labelled and described?
Clear signage using symbols and text.
Q5: At your sites, which changing room and showering facilities is a trans-identified male permitted to use?
Any facilities they decide to use.
Q6: If applicable, do your facilities allow trans-identifying males to attend Women Only swim sessions?
We follow Recreation Aotearoa’s guidance, therefore people identifying as women are able to attend Women’s Swim Nights as these are designed to be a safe space for women.
Our Verdict
If you're one of the first nine able to use the single occupancy room, you're in luck!
"Any facility they decide to use" says it all really and with men in the women's changing rooms and swim sessions, Ashburton Council clearly doesn't care about women! Their signage needs to be updated to reflect the reality of their policies.