A girl was left “distressed” after being forced to share unisex school toilets with boys at just five-years-old.
The youngster, called ‘C’, would often go home in pain after refusing to use the toilets at her primary school in Scotland – and even reduced her liquid intake to limit the need to do so.
Deeming the boys “too noisy”, Child C would wait until she got home. The judge later ruled she was a victim of “indirect discrimination”.
While both sexes can access the toilet area, each cubicle is marked with ‘female’ and ‘male’ signage.
The girl’s parents complained about the lack of single-sex facilities, escalating the matter with West Lothian Council.
Now, this week, the judge decided the toilet layout led to indirect discrimination and disadvantaged girls under the Equality Act 2010.
However, the case did not meet the legal threshold for harassment.
Judge Lady Poole ruled: “The particular disadvantage is a combination of the additional issues for girls relating to contamination of hands due to their anatomy and physiology, and the general vulnerability of girls having to perform intimate activities in communal areas.
The situation was described as ‘distressing’ for the girl
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“These give rise to legitimate considerations of privacy, dignity and health and safety.
“The particular disadvantage arising from provision of all toilets as unisex, relating to contamination of hands and the general vulnerability of girls having to perform intimate activities in communal areas, applies to C.
“The court holds that section 19 of the 2010 Act is contravened by the current toilet provision at the school, and there has been unlawful indirect discrimination.”
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