Shops and restaurants which only have unisex toilets risk "discriminating against women", the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has declared.
After the Supreme Court's landmark ruling that the definition of a woman is based on biological sex, hospitality businesses could seek to accommodate transgender individuals by turning single-sex toilets into gender neutral ones.
While single-sex facilities are a legal requirement in establishments such as the workplace and educational institutions, they are not mandatory for places like restaurants, cafes, and pubs.
The equality watchdog has cautioned businesses attempting to bypass the ruling that failing to provide single-sex toilets could constitute "indirect sex discrimination against women."
Womens' rights campaigners Helen Joyce and Maya Forstater celebrate the judgement outside the Supreme Court earlier in April
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Sex Matters' director Helen Joyce said that public facilities are "more comfortable and much safer for women if no men can use them".
She added that the same sentiment extends to "gender neutral" toilets and changing rooms, which she dubbed a "gift to predatory men seeking to place hidden cameras and slide phones under doors to film unwitting women in a state of undress".
“Having lost sight of women’s rights and prioritised trans people’s identity demands, some are now considering going fully unisex. This approach is likely to lead to women bringing successful claims of indirect sex discrimination," she told The Times.
The new guidance has urged schools to protect single-sex toilets and to provide such facilities if they do not already have them in place.
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The equality watchdog's guidance reads: "It is not compulsory for services that are open to the public to be provided on a single-sex basis or to have single-sex facilities such as toilets.
"These can be single-sex if it is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim and they meet other conditions in the [2010 Equality] Act.
"However, it could be indirect sex discrimination against women if the only provision is mixed-sex."
Following the ruling, Whitehall will adhere to the legal ruling and will not let transgender women use women's toilets.
Since the ruling, Whitehall will adhere to the legal ruling and will not let transgender women use women's toilets (Stock)
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However, questioned on the media round on Sunday morning, Cabinet minister Pat McFadden said that he would not be the "toilet police".
“Look, in reality, when you say ban, am I going to be standing outside toilets? I’m probably not," he said. "There aren’t going to be toilet police. But that is the logical consequence of the court ruling and the EHRC guidance."
The EHRC has added that sports clubs divided by sex would be protected, which would mean that transgender women will not be allowed into women-only groups.
Meanwhile, the Green's party co-leader Carla Denyer said that the guidance on single-sex areas puts transgender people at risk of discrimination and "flies in the face of the strong tradition of tolerance we have in Britain".
