Taipei high schools lack dedicated all-gender restrooms: Survey

Taipei, Feb. 7 (CNA) Over 80 percent of restrooms labeled as "all-gender" restrooms in Taipei's senior high schools are actually accessible toilets with added signage designating them for non-binary individuals, a survey by gender equality organizations has found.

As part of its goal to establish at least one all-gender restroom in every public senior or vocational high school, Taipei's Department of Education reported that 45 out of the capital's 73 schools had installed such facilities as of June 2024.

To assess the design and accessibility of those all-gender restrooms, the Taiwan Gender Equity Education Association (TGEEA) and other gender equality groups conducted a survey of the facilities in 11 of the 45 schools in the second half of 2024.

The tests were conducted using student volunteers.

"We found that in three of the 11 surveyed schools, students were unable to locate the designated all-gender restrooms," said TGEEA Secretary-General Hang Yi-chen (韓宜臻) at a news conference in Taipei on Friday.

Of the 30 all-gender restrooms at the remaining eight surveyed schools, Hang said 26 of them (86.7 percent) were actually accessible restrooms that were simply relabeled with additional signage to also designate them as all-gender restrooms.

"Only four restrooms (13.3 percent) were either newly built or properly renovated as 'centralized' all-gender restrooms," she said.

"Centralized" all-gender restrooms refer to facilities with multiple stalls, each containing a single fixture -- such as a urinal, seated toilet, or squat toilet -- ensuring a variety of options within the same restroom, Hang said.

Wang Yu-ju (汪育儒), a representative of The League For Persons With Disabilities, ROC (Taiwan), said simply relabeling accessible restrooms as all-gender restrooms was ineffective as students may see them as facilities meant for people with disabilities and avoid using them.

She noted that accessible restrooms are already limited in number, and people with disabilities often require more time to use them due to "physical limitations or the need for urinary catheterization."

"If the restroom needs of gender-diverse students and students with disabilities have to all be accommodated by a limited number of accessible restrooms, it will inevitably lead to competition for restroom access and longer wait times," Wang said.

When family restrooms were introduced in the past, regulations explicitly prohibited merging them with accessible restrooms, and the same principle should also apply to all-gender restrooms, she argued.

Meanwhile, Hang said that during interviews conducted by student volunteers as part of the survey, some other students told them that they mistakenly believed all-gender restrooms were intended for "sexual activities."

It showed that some students are aware of all-gender restrooms in their schools, but they often do not fully understand their purpose, she said, urging schools to provide better education on the facilities' significance.