Male and female toilets could be made unisex to better accommodate transgender people, the chair of the equalities watchdog has said.
Mary-Ann Stephenson, head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), said gender-neutral toilets offered a "really simple solution" to those who "can't or don't want to use the services of their biological sex".
Dr Stephenson, who was appointed as chair of the commission at the start of this month, stressed that there was no need for "toilet police" but that offering alternative facilities or improving signage could help.
She told the BBC: "At the moment we have men and women's toilets, men and women's changing rooms.
"They are not policed - you don't have guards on the door, you don't have a sort of 'toilet police' because the enforcement has to be proportionate to the issue.
"Generally speaking, these things work through social conventions and social contract - most people obey and follow the rules."
Giving the example of two self-contained toilet cubicles, one labelled for men and one for women, Dr Stephenson said: “The most sensible thing in those circumstances for a service provider to do is to make both of those unisex, if they’re self-contained with a sink, individual lockable rooms.
"There is no need to say one is for men and one is for women, you could make them both unisex.”
Businesses and other organisations are still awaiting new transgender guidance which will be used to inform their provision of single and separate-sex services, such as toilets and changing rooms, following the Supreme Court's ruling on gender definitions in April.
Dr Stephenson began her role as chair of the EHRC earlier this month
|EHRC
In a long-awaited judgment, the court confirmed the terms woman and sex in the 2010 Equality Act “refer to a biological woman and biological sex”.
New transgender guidance produced by the EHRC is currently being assessed by the Government.
Ministers have had the guidance for months but said they will not “rush” its publication.
The proposed code of practice requires ministerial approval and would only come into force 40 days after the Government had laid the draft code in Parliament.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
The EHRC wrote to women and equalities minister Bridget Phillipson in October urging her to speed up with bringing in the new guidance
|PA
The EHRC wrote to women and equalities minister Bridget Phillipson in October urging her to speed up with bringing in the new guidance.
It stressed that some organisations were currently using unlawful practices.
The code has not been updated since 2011 and the latest draft has been produced in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling.
In a statement earlier this month, a Government spokesman said: “We are unapologetic about taking the time to produce legally sound guidance that will guide businesses and organisations, and ensure have the the safety and dignity they deserve; the alternative, issuing rushed and flawed guidance, would be utterly catastrophic and fail women across our country."