By Alex Downham
New renovations at the Sally Horsfall Eaton Centre for Studies in Community Health requested by students and faculty members have left the number of men’s and women’s washrooms in the centre unequal.
The renovations consisted of converting all but one men’s bathroom on the fifth floor of Sally Horsfall to women’s washrooms. It was part of a renovation that was completed on the fifth floor in 2006.
There are still six washrooms divided among the centre’s floors. However, there is a single men’s washroom left on the sixth floor of the centre. The other was converted into a universal space.
“I’d be annoyed if that happened in the engineering building. If I have to go then I have to go and I wouldn’t want to walk downstairs. I think men are more passive about these things and they just think it is what it is,” said Kristie Ford, a first-year engineering student. “Basically, it’s unfair, completely not fair.”
Kerri Bailey, the manager of finance and strategic planning at Ryerson’s Campus Facilities and Sustainability wrote via email that the new washroom was made to “accommodate the large amount of women on that (the fifth) floor.”
The Sally Horsall Eaton Centre consists of the fifth and sixth floors above Eric Palin Hall, located on the corner of Gerrard and Mutual streets. It is home to child and youth care, disability studies and health services management at Ryerson.
Engineering student, Mohamed Egeh, isn’t bothered by the renovations, agreeing that more women come to the centre because the faculties inside the center are supposedly female-dominated.
“It’s true that there are more women than men studying here, so I don’t see it as a big deal,” said Egeh. “However, if you don’t know the floors well that can be an issue; I got lost looking for the washroom the first time I came here.”
Cindy Da Silva, an early childhood education student from George Brown College, said the new washroom is unnecessary despite the large amount of females in the centre.
“It can get pretty busy around here but there are already quite a few washrooms for women,” said Da Silva, whose Goerge Brown program also shares a space in the Sally Horsfall building.
“I don’t think we needed another.”
Students like Mohamed Dibbasey think that the number of washrooms should not have been changed.
“It only makes sense if things are equal. There should be the same amount of facilities in every building, no matter what,” he said.
1 Pingback