Isn’t it unlawful to have few toilets for women at work?

Caroline Mboijana

My workplace has only one toilet for women on every floor, yet men have a toilet and several urinals on each floor. The lady’s toilet on my floor is always engaged because of the many users. Isn’t it unfair that women always have one point for a bathroom break and men have several in workplaces? Isn’t this making the work environment unconducive for women? What does the law say? Joy

Dear Joy,
Section 49 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2006 states “in a building where work is carried out and where persons of both sexes are or are intended to be employed, except in the case of buildings where workers are all members of the same family, the conveniences shall have (1) proper separate accommodation for persons of each sex; (2) separate approaches for each sex.” With that being the law, your employer has followed the act and provided separate areas of convenience. The issue that you’ve raised is related to adequacy of the facilities to accommodate the volume of users.

Given that the conveniences are not enough to accommodate the number of users, there is a case related to an unconducive work environment. To address the issue, it’s best to raise the matter with the HR department and request for more toilets to be put in place. I would highlight to the HR department that while the employer has provided separate areas of convenience, the point that should also be considered, is the matter of cleanliness and whether the state of the conveniences is posing a threat, to the well-being of so many users. The same section 49 also requires that the building where one is working should have “sufficient and suitable sanitary conveniences that are maintained and kept clean”.

While the matter is not breaking the law, it is causing an inconvenience to the female staff, raising the question of a conducive environment. Critically the issue of cleanliness can be presented as a concern as having a negative impact on the well-being of the female staff.

Caroline Mboijana
Managing Director
The Leadership Team (U)
[email protected]