Occupy Toilet: Women Protest Long Lines For Public Bathrooms

Ladies, you've been there. Standing arms-crossed in a winding line of women, edging slowly toward the restroom as men push past through the door with a skirtless stick figure.

In Guangzhuo, China, one student decided that enough was enough. Li Tingting and 20 female accomplices set up camp in a men's public toilet to protest long wait times, according to the AFP.

The express purpose of the 'occupy' toilet protests was "not to forcibly stop men from using their toilet, but to arouse consciousness on gender equality in both women and men," the group explained, according to UPI.

Wei Tibin, the group's only male participant, noted the mixed reaction from men attempting to use the restrooms. "A few of the men who were stopped outside the 'occupied' toilet expressed a severe need for the toilet. However, most of them acknowledged the campaign after we explained it to them," he told UPI.

Now, it looks like the city of Guangzhou might be listening. According to China Daily, the Municipal Commission of City Administration is attempting to set a minimum men's-to-women's toilet ratio at 1 to 1.5.

If the measure succeeds, Guangzhou won't be the first place to instate such ratios for public latrines. According to the Wall Street Journal, in Hong Kong and Taiwan, laws require more space for female than male toilets.

In the meantime, AFP reports that Li Tingting plans to occupy men's toilets in Beijing to attract the attention of senior officials in the capital.

Comments

[Vballboy60]

05:37 AM on 02/27/2012

As an engineer with a policy degree, the solution is easy.

Change planning so more toilets are provided compared to the men's room next door. Bathroom use or wait time differences between men and women should drive any new bathroom design in commercial or business environmentals.

[mspender]

03:17 PM on 02/26/2012

Larry Craig has decided to start his own version of this.

[sunsetter]

10:07 AM on 02/26/2012

Pictures were taken of the Occupy toilets - they are police cars or any other car they can find.

[mdsman]

06:31 AM on 02/26/2012

ahhh, the return of david dinkins and the "Potty Parity" study
Edolphus Towns ans Issa have co=sponsored a bill to address the "gender bias" of having to wait in line to void one's self.
Didn't they pass a 1:1 ratio law in CA back in the 90's?
Are there no lines there now?
Set it up like a number of men's rooms, a trough along the wall. The women can just squat, side by side, and pee in the avg of 43 seconds that dinkins said men take.
more silliness from the "me, me, mine, mine" contingent

[Oldhistorian69]

12:02 AM on 02/26/2012

There are a number of plans regarding the number of toilets for women as compared to the number needed for man. For some 60 years we known that it takes a woman about half again longer to take care of her business than it does a man. They are also much more likely to be taking care of the needs of one or more children. Many of us men have had long waits on our wives or significant others for this reason. Gender equity in this case means more that equal numbers to toilet facilities. We males have a built in advantage al least until we reach old age.

[Bruce Sutka]

11:00 PM on 02/25/2012

Why not just be gender unspecific for bathrooms?

[SomeRandomPerson]

11:34 PM on 02/25/2012

Agreed with this. Just make a very large bathroom with as many stalls as you can shove against the walls. Add a centered line of sinks, discarding mirrors (as to not waste time) and you're set.

[JoeHurley]

01:09 AM on 02/26/2012

We can call it the molestation room!

[ReadALot]

08:35 PM on 02/25/2012

Kudos to the ladies and their mission. Alice Tully personally told me that when she financed the building of Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in New York she specified that the architects install an equal number of facilities in construction of the male and female rest rooms.

Once, attending a concert at Alice Tully Hall with my boss and during intermission when the rest rooms were in full service I asked my boss if there was the usual waiting line for the lady's room. She said no and I told her the above story.

[Isaiah Ellison]

02:40 PM on 02/25/2012

This is big. I live in China and most people here do not believe they should or can effect cultural or political change. This is a great sign. No matter what happens, any Chinese person that sees this will be given a degree of courage. I know that sounds dramatic but it is true.

[Blackorpheus]

01:24 PM on 02/25/2012

Big prob, simple answer. Learn to pee standing up. It ain't that hard.

[ReadALot]

08:48 PM on 02/25/2012

Shame on you. Most restrooms usually have the same amount of toilets . . . though lady's restrooms don't have urinals in addition to toilets . . . that's where the disparity lies.

[Blackorpheus]

09:21 PM on 02/25/2012

My point precisely, Madame. Urinals for both genders. Neither gender disparaged.

[Lindytindy]

12:19 PM on 02/25/2012

I think we should just start using the men's room.

[TruEngineHearing]

10:51 AM on 02/25/2012

'Occupy Toilet' - gotta be one of the better headlines! Well, I'm a guy and if the women's line was always faster, I'd raise a ruckus too.

[Bruce Barron]

10:05 AM on 02/25/2012

Get a Foley catheter.a colostomy.stop wiping yourself,wear underpads.stop drinking.use a plug.stop piddling around.

[iBubbi]

07:37 PM on 02/25/2012

not funny - guess your brain is exactly where most women think it is.

[pattileigh]

08:44 AM on 02/26/2012

and you're the reason there are separate areas.

[No more Kool Aid]

07:33 AM on 02/25/2012

China has now come full circle. "To arouse consciousness on gender equality in both women and men," the group explained. I beg to differ...... Men go into the restroom and leave..Women go into the restroom, talk,text, call and look in the mirror. Maybee a referee is in order in the womens restroom.I Call them as everyone sees them but are PC afraid to say.

[Elijah Greenleaf]

02:29 AM on 02/26/2012

agreed. some women waste time socializing in the loo while others are waiting outside.

[lifehub]

06:49 AM on 02/25/2012

How stupid and brainless.

[mamacat]

05:59 AM on 02/25/2012

Given the physiological differences between the sexes, and how they effect the use of toilets, it seems to me that it is only common sense to put many more stalls in a women's public toilet than in a men's. If a men's restroom has four urinals and two stalls, then the women's toilet at the same facility should have at least six stalls, and preferably more.

While traveling outside the country I have seen women use the men's toilets when the women's toilets had a really long queue. The world didn't end just because women went into the mens room.

[No more Kool Aid]

07:44 AM on 02/25/2012

Why the difference if there is gender equality ? I like your word preferably... I am not a chauvinist but the word equality gets used whenever it is suited, then the word difference is used whenever it is suited. There lies the problem. Give Women 10 stalls ...I don't care... but please leave the words equality and gender out of the story and say why