The Equal Opportunity Commission (the Commission), with assistance from Curtin University School of
Design and Built Environment student Maya Yamamoto-Portelli, conducted a survey as part of a larger
research project to ascertain what types of discrimination impacted the WA community when it came to
shared public facilities such as change rooms, bathrooms and toilets.
The survey was completed by 474 people which included Trans and gender diverse individuals, cis-gender
individuals, people with disability and careers of a person of the opposite sex. The survey explored the
challenges of accessing public facilities such as toilets, changing rooms and showers, as well as the idea of
having more all-gender facilities in Perth.
The term ‘gender diverse’ was used in the survey to represent the diverse ways people experience gender
and to be inclusive of those who identify as non-binary or who do not identify as the gender they were
assigned at birth. The term transgender was used to describe individuals who identify and experience gender
differently to the one assigned to them at birth or by society.
About 10 percent of survey participants identified as carers of people of the opposite sex who felt negatively
impacted by gendered public facilities because of their caring responsibilities. About six percent of people
who identified as having a disability felt they were impacted by gender public facilities because of their
disability.
Overwhelmingly, responses indicating a negative impact from using gendered public facilities came from
those who identify as gender diverse and it is for this reason the issues paper will focus on the barriers
gendered public facilities place on WA’s gender diverse community.
Many people also used the survey as an excuse to be transphobic, which gives us some insight into why
gender diverse, people need safe public spaces, and highlights the need for more robust laws to protect
gender diverse people from transphobic attitudes in Western Australia.
I encourage local governments to read this paper and consider the impacts of gendered public facilities on
the vulnerable gender diverse communities throughout the state.
Dr John Byrne
Western Australian Commissioner for Equal Opportunity
