MLB Memo: Some Stadium Conditions Create 'Untenable Working Environment' for Women

Major League Baseball sent a memo to league stadiums stating the facilities for female employees are "unacceptable," per ESPN's Jeff Passan. 

Per that memo, the league said the conditions for the locker room areas and restrooms, among other facilities for women, "fall embarrassingly below the high standards" the league has requested and said it has created an "untenable working environment" for female coaches and medical staff, among other roles. 

Per Passan, MLB wrote to teams in a March 2021 memo that women staffers, on both the home and away teams, must be accommodated with a clean and private locker room area near the team's clubhouse that included a bathroom and shower area.

But many female employees for MLB teams told Passan that they often have to trek to a different end of the stadium to find a bathroom, and that the locker rooms they are given are often far away from the team clubhouse.

One woman told Passan that one of her female colleagues said that "finding the bathroom" is the most difficult part of her job. Another said that the bathroom near the dugout didn't have a lock and that the door had been opened multiple times while she was using the facilities.

"It is unacceptable that women who are traveling as part of the visiting team are not afforded accommodations that permit them to do their jobs at the same level as their male colleagues and counterparts," the league's memo stated.

"Clubs that do not provide appropriate workplace accommodations for personnel regardless of gender violate MLB regulations, directly deprive women of equal access to participate in our great game, and discourage qualified women from participating in baseball roles traditionally held by men," it added.

Major League Baseball didn't outline any potential disciplinary actions against non-compliant teams in the memo, per Passan, but asked teams to send plans for updating facilities by June 3.