A woman is angry after finding a man using a urinal in a male bathroom that had been incorrectly labelled as gender-neutral.
Associate professor Sarahjane Jones, 35, attended a Health Research Authority (HRA) conference at the Science and Industry Museum, in Manchester, on Wednesday.
When she went to use the bathroom, she chose the one labelled ‘inclusive’ with a sign depicting a male, a female and a mix of the two.
She claims to have walked in on a man using a urinal, who she would have had to pass to get to a cubicle.
Sarahjane, who researches patient safety at Staffordshire University, later tweeted about her bathroom experience saying: ‘This is not an example of inclusively! And is wholly unacceptable.’
More than 1,000 people have since commented on the post, with one commentator calling it ‘insane’ and another writing: ‘Funny how this inclusion always excludes women’.
The museum has since confirmed it accidentally labelled this gender-neutral toilet as ‘inclusive’ when it was supposed to be just for men.
While the museum does indeed offer gender-neutral facilities, these bathrooms are typically made up of cubicles for privacy – and no urinals.
But workers had to ‘adapt the space’ used for the HRA event and a male bathroom was incorrectly labelled as gender-neutral, a spokesperson said.
The HRA said it has apologised to Sarahjane ‘for the distress caused’ and explained that it had requested for the museum to be made ‘inclusive of all genders’.
A spokesperson for the public body said: ‘The signs were replaced as soon as we became aware of the issue.
‘We have discussed with the venue. Both the HRA and the museum will learn from this to ensure the same mistakes are not made in the future.’
They added: ‘We regret any distress caused by this incident, which occurred at a private event at the museum’s conference centre, where there are male, female and accessible toilet facilities.
‘Some clients request all-gender facilities, which we offer by changing the signage on the toilets which only have cubicles.
‘However, in this isolated instance, a facility which included a urinal was mistakenly signposted as an all-gender toilet, in addition to the spaces which have private cubicles only.
‘Our organisational position is that toilets which include urinals will not be used as an all-gender facility.
‘As a museum group that aims to be “open for all” we believe that being able to use the toilet of your choice is your right.
‘In the public-facing spaces of the museum we offer male, female and all-gender toilets, in addition to accessible toilets and a changing places facility.’
Metro.co.uk has contacted Sarahjane for comment.
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