According to legislation, all new UK public buildings now need to offer separate washrooms for men and women. But how did male and female facilities come to be segregated in the first place? Essity’s Lee Radzki looks at the history of ladies and gents’ toilets and considers whether washrooms should simply be equipped to be suitable for everyone.
Last August the government confirmed a pledge to reverse the rise of gender-neutral toilets in the UK. Unisex toilets were increasingly being installed in public buildings following calls for improved facilities for non-binary people. But this prompted dignity and privacy concerns – mostly from women and elderly people who claimed to feel unsafe in single-sex washrooms.
A bid to return to segregated facilities appears counter-intuitive in a world where equality is being promoted at every opportunity. And life has changed considerably since the mid 19th century, which was when public lavatories emerged in the first place.
Before that time most men tended to relieve themselves in fields, streets or alleyways when out and about. But this practice was considered unacceptable for genteel women who were obliged to stay within easy reach of their homes - or only travel to safe spaces such as the homes of friends or family members.
This situation began to change in the mid-19th century when industrialisation led to many towns becoming overcrowded. Clearly it was no longer viable to continue using the streets as toilets, so sewage systems were installed and public toilets sprang up in UK cities. But these were mainly aimed at men.
A breakthrough then occurred as a result of the Great Exhibition of 1851. A huge palace was built in Hyde Park to house the event, which was staged to showcase Britain’s achievements and was expected to attract visitors from far and wide.
However, the developers of the new Crystal Palace realised that everyone’s visit would inevitably be curtailed if there were no washroom facilities on site. So public toilets were added for both sexes – although once again, most of them were for men.
The success of the Crystal Palace toilets led to more public lavatories – still mainly for gents - opening up in towns and cities. Many of these were built underground with only a single glass brick embedded in the pavement to provide light.
In the end it was commercial expediency that led to the more widespread provision of public toilets for women. Victorian shop owners began to realise that female shoppers would spend more money if they had access to a washroom. So ladies’ powder rooms began to be incorporated into department stores, usually adjoining the in-store cafés and tea rooms.
However, since these privately-owned businesses catered mainly for wealthy shoppers it meant that the majority of women still had little or no access to public washrooms.
Enter two new associations which were set up to fight for women’s washroom rights. The Ladies Sanitary Association achieved some measure of success and a few more ladies’ loos were built as a result of their efforts. Then in the late 1890s, the Union of Women’s Liberal and Radical Associations emerged and began campaigning for public toilets for working class women. A site was earmarked next to the gents’ washrooms in Camden High Street but many men objected to the facility being built and claimed, rather unfairly, that the location was unsuitable. To prove their point, hackney cab-owners began deliberately driving into the prototype toilet.
London-based department store Selfridges then became a pioneer of female washroom facilities. The store opened its first ladies’ toilet in 1909 to allow members of the Suffragette movement to use the facilities while campaigning.
During the 20th century, away-from-home facilities for both men and women sprang up everywhere – and continued to be segregated. But in recent years, advocates of unisex facilities have pointed out various advantages to combining them.
For example, many women complain about the fact that queues tend to be longer for the ladies’ than the gents. So there is an argument that shared facilities would help to even out this disparity.
Gender-neutral toilets also make it easier for parents to accompany children of the opposite sex to the toilet. And unisex washrooms take up less space than segregated facilities which means restaurants and bars could save valuable square footage by combining the toilets, creating more space for drinkers and diners.
The downside, however, is that many people are reluctant to share an intimate space with members of the opposite sex. And unisex washrooms have prompted complaints on several occasions.
For example, when a number of UK leisure centres installed unisex washrooms to cut costs and cater for the transgender community a few years ago, nearly 90 per cent of complaints relating to the switch concerned cases of sexual assault, voyeurism and harassment in gender-neutral facilities.
And in 2019, the Ministry of Defence spent £15,000 on 13 gender-neutral toilets at its Whitehall headquarters. But within months, female staff members began boycotting them claiming they were “too smelly”, and because they felt uncomfortable using the facilities around men.
But whether men and women share a washroom or not, it is crucial that both sexes have access to clean, hygienic spaces and adequate hand washing facilities.
There is often a perception that men’s washrooms are messier and smellier than the ladies’ and offer fewer frills. But there is no reason why this should be the case.
Where items such as mirrors, hand creams and fresh flowers are offered in the ladies they should also be provided in the gents to create a welcoming feel. And easy-to-clean dispensers designed to attract fewer fingerprints will help to keep all facilities looking clean. For example, Tork Elevation dispensers have smooth, easy-to-clean casings and are available in automatic versions to reduce the problem of fingermarks.
A good air freshener system will also help to keep the air smelling fragrant. The Tork Constant Air Freshener lasts for up to 90 days before needing a refill, for example, and uses propellant-free technology to neutralise odours continuously and evenly.
Since female facilities tend to attract longer queues, all dispensers should be designed to be quick and easy to use and provide a long-lasting supply of product to prevent run-outs.
The Tork Foam Soap dispenser serves up to 1650 users between refills and the Tork PeakServe Continuous Hand Towel dispenser caters for up to 2100. Both dispensers have been designed to be easy to use, even for people with low hand strength. And the Tork PeakServe dispenser gives out towels in just three seconds to provide a quick throughput.
While unisex washrooms have their benefits it appears that not everyone is ready to embrace them. However, in this age of equality it is important that no-one loses out and that all washrooms are maintained to a high standard of cleanliness and hygiene – whoever their users happen to be.
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