Jun Ji-hye, a reporter at the finance desk of The Korea Times, focuses primarily on economic policy and government agencies, mainly covering the Ministry of Finance and Economy, the Ministry of Budget and Planning, the National Tax Service and the Korea Customs Service. She previously covered financial authorities, including the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service, and earlier worked on the political, city and business desks, reporting on a wide range of issues.
University in Seoul to build gender-neutral restroom
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By Jun Ji-hye
By Jun Ji-hye
Sungkonghoe University in Seoul is planning to build a gender-neutral restroom that can be used by people of any gender expression or gender identity.
According to student representatives of the university, Thursday, members of the university's student council passed a motion unanimously the previous day to open such a restroom on campus by the end of the year.
“There have been some representatives who raised concerns during a meeting, but more people agreed with the need to build an all-gender restroom,” said Lee Hoon, one of the student representatives. “The university has also expressed a positive view regarding the construction, thus the restroom is expected to be built within a year without problems.”
Gender-neutral restrooms are facilities that can be used not only by sexual and gender minorities, but also by people with disabilities who might need a person of a different gender to accompany them as well as parents who need to accompany a child of a different gender.
In 2017, the student government at the time pushed for the plan, but it was thwarted due to opposition from many students.
Opposition to the plan still exists among students who are raising concerns that such a restroom could be exploited for crimes involving hidden cameras.
But Lee said, “Hidden cameras are issues that are related to toilets themselves, and not related to gender expression or gender identity. We will mobilize every possible means, including using surveillance devices such as radio waves and camera lens detectors to find any hidden cameras, in order to make the restroom safer.”
He added that about 50 million won ($44,750) is expected to be budgeted for the construction of the restroom.
Unisex restrooms have become more common in countries such as the United States and some European nations, although those countries have also confronted opposition.
In 2015, the Obama administration established a gender-neutral restroom in Room 180 of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House, while California, beginning from March 1, 2017, required businesses that have single-user restrooms to designate such restrooms as unisex and post appropriate accessible signage, under a new law known as the Equal Restroom Access Act.
It is also hard to find gender-segregated restrooms in Nordic countries, especially in Denmark and Sweden.
For its part, Japan has been reportedly considering installing universal-use toilets for all genders at Olympic and Paralympic venues.
In Taiwan, some high schools and universities, such as Minsheng Junior High School, Shih Hsin University and National Cheng Kung University, have introduced gender-neutral restrooms.