Why there are always queues to womans restrooms?

The lines for women's restrooms are not because women go there to chat instead of attending to their physiological needs. After all, conversations among women in bathrooms usually happen by the mirror with lipstick in hand rather than in the toilet stall. The formation of lines for women's restrooms has a completely different origin, dating back many years.

A Brief History of Women's Public Restrooms

We will base this on the history of women's restrooms in the United Kingdom during the Victorian Era, but it directly applies to women's restrooms here as well. Public restrooms at that time were built exclusively with men in mind because only men could conduct various affairs in public spaces. When women had something to do in town and needed to use the restroom, they had to attend to their physiological needs in random places or use a device called a urinette, which was an early version of women's urinals.

Changes in the Perception of Women's Restrooms

Just as women gained voting rights and a range of other rights in later years, the issue of women's restrooms has not been addressed as it should be. Women's restrooms are historically unequal, which is evident in the fact that women's restrooms usually have the same number of stalls as men's restrooms. However, there should be more, partly because women only use stalls, not urinals and toilets as men do, and partly because some of women's physiological needs are related to menstruation.

In 1987, a California senator noticed that his wife and daughter had to wait in a long line for the restroom while attending a Tchaikovsky concert. After this incident, he began a legislative process to guarantee women's restrooms with more stalls. The law was passed, and from that moment, in newly constructed buildings, women's restrooms must have 50% more stalls than men's restrooms. In the following years, 21 states and cities like New York and Chicago also introduced new regulations.

Why Are There Still Lines for Women's Restrooms?

In the USA, there are still lines for women's restrooms because the law requiring more stalls in women's restrooms only applies to newly constructed buildings. Therefore, most buildings still have too few stalls in women's restrooms. Developers try to circumvent this regulation by opting for more gender-neutral restrooms, although this still raises much controversy. Others have taken creativity even further, such as at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, where restrooms are labeled based on the ratio of men to women at an event.

How Is It in Poland?

In Poland, the law states that in public utility buildings and workplaces, there should be at least one toilet bowl and one urinal for every 30 men and one toilet bowl for every 20 women in public restrooms unless safety and hygiene regulations (BHP Annex 3, Chapter 3, § 19.1) state otherwise. However, if the number of people in rooms intended for permanent use is less than 10, a shared restroom for women and men is allowed. As can be seen, our law also states that there must be more stalls in women's restrooms. However, as abroad, many public utility buildings still have restrooms according to old legal regulations.

This article is based on an article by Joe Pinsker from The Atlantic.
https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2019/01/women-men-bathroom-lines-wait/580993/

Ryszard Kurek