Last Friday the 19th of November, World Toilet Day, the National Student Union organised an action for more gender-neutral bathrooms in universities. Participants put a ‘just a WC’ sticker on gendered bathrooms stalls and toilet bowls. The UvA lavatories also got a makeover, courtesy of the ASVA.
Before she embarked on her sticker tour across multiply UvA faculties, we spoke to ASVA chair Emma Buining about the initiative. The UvA and the HvA already have some unisex toilets, but the ASVA doesn’t think the current amount of restrooms is enough. ‘’It’s good that our university already has some gender-neutral lavatories, but having only four of them scattered across an 11th-floor building is not satisfactory. There should be more of them, plain and simple’’, says Buining.
Since 2016, the debate around unisex toilets at the UvA has been quite lively. ‘’We have noticed that the topic of gender-neutral toilets is a very controversial one, even at the UvA’’, adds Buining. ‘’It’s hard to persuade people who have different opinions about the issue. That is probably why the progress is going so slowly’’, says Buining.
She believes the time of persuading the opposition through conversation is over. ”We have waited long enough. Now it’s time for action.” Buining hopes that the sticker initiative will show the university that if they won’t bring about change, ASVA will. ‘’It would be great if this initiative would work as an incentive for the university, having them continue their fight for inclusivity.’’
A spokesperson of the UvA told us that these kinds of initiatives are always encouraged by the university. Although, he believes the UvA has already taken an adequate amount of measures to assure unisex toilets on campus. An opinion the ASVA does not share.