Gender Neutral Bathrooms for TTR: Just a Pipe Dream?

DAN MOSKOVITZ (HE/HIM)

In my humble opinion, gender-neutral bathrooms are the best. At no point have I ever wanted to run into, see, or be aware of the existence of any other person whilst I do my business.

Men’s toilets are crap at achieving this paradise. Urinals are one of the worst inventions to grace mankind. They prevent the privacy which stalls provide.

Yet the men’s bathrooms in Te Toki a Rata is one of these urinal-free utopias. They only have stalls. It’s beautiful.

Hence, for my theys and thems, the question is obvious: why aren’t Te Toki a Rata’s bathrooms gender-neutral?

As it turns out, there are strict requirements for a lavatory to be officially considered as such. 

All gender bathrooms require ‘complete isolation’ to be classified as gender-neutral. The stall itself needs to have a bin, sink, and sanitary waste disposal, and be completely closed off from all other stalls. 

“While achieving this transformation is possible in Te Toki a Rata, the University would need to undertake building work that would require building consent and adjustments to plumbing systems,” said a university spokesperson in a statement. 

And as we all know, Te Herenga Waka is not exactly flush with cash.

The exact requirements the university uses were not available, but the same spokesperson said they were based on work with the Rainbow and Inclusion services, as well as both ministerial and overseas guidelines.

A full list of the University’s gender-neutral facilities is available on its website.