The male change rooms at the NSW Parliament gym will be permanently switched with the female toilets on Wednesday, in a significant win for a "loo coup" staged by women MPs.
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With only one female shower to every three showers for the blokes on some floors of Parliament, female MPs had complained of queues for the change rooms as they sought to prepare for question time.
The 2015 election saw a big influx of women into NSW political office, and their presence in the building exposed the outdated assumption that most politicians are men.
There are now 38 female MPs, compared with only eight when the gym was installed in 1976.
The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, Shelley Hancock, said the presiding officers have agreed to the switch after complaints about the disparity in the standard of facilities provided to women.
"I think this is an important symbolic gesture, to show that Parliament is an inclusive workplace for both men and women. I am thrilled to see a much greater representation of women in Parliament, and it is important to provide the facilities they require," Mrs Hancock said.
She said all women working at Parliament, not just the MPs, deserve to have access to the same level of amenities as their male counterparts.
The move was backed by most male MPs.
The Labor MP for Maitland, Jenny Aitchison, described the female change rooms in the gym as "dark and dingy" compared with the men's quarters, which also have more lockers.
She said many MPs liked to walk to work to get fit, but it had become "a bit tight" in the shower rooms.
"People were knocking on the door, or saying, 'I'm not ready'."
She said the protest by female MPs, which involved a sit-in armed with hair dryers and straighteners in October, had prompted other women in the community to share similar stories.
"Its an important issue. A lot of female workers have issues with access to toilets," she said.
Young girls wanting to play soccer had been forced to change on the side of the field when sports ovals only provided male change rooms, she said.
"When we are trying to encourage women into non-traditional roles, like being a politician, it gets me that toilets are always the last bastion."
