A Feminist Critical Analysis of Public Toilets and Gender
A Systematic Review
Shawna Lewkowitz (Western University) & Jason Gilliland (Western University)
There is a distinct lack of good quality public toilets in public spaces in cities across North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. With increasing numbers of unhoused people without access to private facilities, this is a growing concern. It is also an issue for anyone who wants to use public spaces, as everyone eventually needs a dignified place to go. Furthermore, the scarcity of quality public toilets disproportionately affects women, trans, and gender-nonconforming individuals, which impacts their mobility, safety, and health (Greed 2016; Dubin et al. 2021; Herman 2013)
Access to sanitation in public spaces is not just a nice to have; it is a human right. In response to the lack of access globally, the United Nations (2019) came up with a framework to assess the provision of public toilets in public spaces. The framework criteria include 1) availability; 2) accessibility; 3) affordability; 4) quality and safety; and 5) acceptability, privacy, and dignity. Given the importance of public toilets to gender equity and recognizing the gendered nature of public toilet provision and experiences in urban public spaces, we undertook a systematic review using the United Nations Framework as a guide to better understand the literature and experiences of public toilet access in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
AVAILABILITY
We found that when toilets are not built in the numbers needed to serve people well, women and gender-nonconforming people can be prevented from accessing public places. It can also inhibit their mobility by requiring excess energy to find routes that have available public toilets (Camenga et al. 2019; Dubin et al. 2021; Palmer et al. 2019; Hartigan et al. 2020; McGuire, Sloan Okrey Anderson, and Michaels 2022). For those who are unhoused, a lack of public toilets is experienced daily and is further complicated for people who menstruate and may need greater access (Sommer et al. 2020).
ACCESSIBILITY
It is not enough to just have public toilets present in cities: they must also be open and physically accessible to all people. Facilities should be designed to accommodate those with a range of health issues and accessibility needs. Public toilets that have limited hours, are closed in the winter, or are locked when they should be open create barriers for those who depend on those facilities’ availability, particularly among those who are unhoused (Sommer et al. 2020).
AFFORDABILITY
Affordability in terms of whether one must pay to access toilets can create financial barriers for some who may lack the resources. A lack of available public toilet facilities in cities often means that people need to purchase items in a coffee shop, restaurant, or other commercial facility to access toilet facilities (Maroko et al. 2021). This invisible fee is more acute for those who need to access facilities more frequently, which creates additional barriers based on gender and income. Furthermore, unhoused individuals can’t always utilize private facilities, as they lack the financial or social capital required for access (Maroko et al. 2021).
QUALITY AND SAFETY
The location and design of facilities impacts women’s perceived safety. If women feel unsafe, they will avoid using these facilities, and the same principle holds for trans people (Kuhn et al. 2006; Hartigan et al. 2020; Dubin et al. 2021)). Unsanitary or unclean facilities are concerns that prompt women to avoid public toilets (Hartigan et al, 2020), which is of particular concern for those with health issues like urinary tract problems (Palmer et al. 2019). Previous experiences of harassment and abuse can also dissuade trans people from accessing public facilities (Herman 2013).
ACCEPTABILITY, PRIVACY, AND DIGNITY
Acceptability, privacy, and dignity relate to the perception that a bathroom meets one’s cultural or social needs. For those with health issues (Hartigan et al. 2020) or those who may not want their gender to be surveilled (Lane et al. 2021), privacy is a major concern. There are cultural differences in how people use washrooms that also need to be addressed by public toilet designs to ensure they are acceptable and meet privacy standards.
PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS FOR POLICY MAKERS, GOVERNMENTS AND PLANNERS
To address these concerns, self-contained, accessible, all-gender toilets with their own door, locks, occupied status signs, full walls, sinks, bins, diapering facilities, and menstrual hygiene facilities should all be considered when designing public toilet facilities. These facilities meet the privacy and toilet needs of most people, particularly if the self-contained rooms can accommodate people with disabilities and people with caregivers. These accommodations lower the chance that people will be policed or harassed for using the wrong washroom. Improving signage to indicate if a unit is occupied will enhance users’ security and safety. Regular cleaning and monitoring are needed to ensure facilities remain clean and usable. Lastly, many public spaces are accessible throughout the day and year-round, and toilet facilities should have similar accessibility standards.
An important part of making cities more liveable is ensuring equitable access to public spaces, including women, trans, and gender-nonconforming people. A vital but under-discussed dimension of this is access to quality public toilet facilities. The UN framework on access to public sanitation facilities outlines specific criteria to ensure this goal. Our systematic review of the literature demonstrates that when these criteria are not met, there are gendered impacts that make cities less inclusive for some people. Policymakers, governments, and planners can increase access to public spaces and gender equity by using this UN framework to plan, build, and maintain public toilets that meet the needs of everyone.
Read the full UAR article here.
References
Camenga, Deepa R., Sonya S. Brady, Cecilia T. Hardacker, Beverly R. Williams, Jeni Hebert-Beirne, Aimee S. James, Kathryn Burgio, et al. 2019. “Low.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 16 (18): 3338. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16183338.
Dubin, Samuel., Sari Reisner, Eric W. Schrimshaw, Asa Radix, Aisah. Khan, Salem Harry-Hernandez, Sophia A. Zweig, Liadh Timmins, and Dustin T. Duncan. 2021. “Public Restrooms in Neighborhoods and Public Spaces: A Qualitative Study of Transgender and Nonbinary Adults in New York City.” Sexuality Research and Social Policy 18 (4): 1002–12. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-020-00504-3.
Greed, Clara. 2016. “Taking Women’s Bodily Functions into Account in Urban Planning and Policy: Public Toilets and Menstruation.” The Town Planning Review 87 (5): 505–24. https://doi.org/10.3828/tpr.2016.35.
Urban Spaces for All, 133–53. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351200912-8.
Hartigan, Siobhan M., Kemberlee Bonnet, Leah. Chisholm, Casey. Kowalik, Roger R. Dmochowski, David Schlundt, and W. Stuart Reynolds. 2020. “Why Do Women Not Use the Bathroom? Women’s Attitudes and Beliefs on Using Public Restrooms.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 17 (6). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17062053.
Herman, Jody L. 2013. “Gendered Restrooms and Minority Stress: The Public Regulation of Gender and Its Impact on Transgender People’s Lives.” Social Policy, 17.
Human Rights Council (2019). Human rights to water and sanitation in spheres of life beyond
the household with an emphasis on public spaces - Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation. Human Rights Council, United Nations General Assembly, A/HRC/42/47. Retrieved from United National Digital Library: https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/3823889?ln=en
Kuhn, Annette, Kathleen Vits, Peter Kuhn, and Ash Monga. 2006. “Do Women with Urinary Incontinence Really Know Where All the Toilets Are?. The Toilet Paper.” European Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Reproductive Biology 129 (1): 65–68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejogrb.2005.11.004.
Lane, Benjamin, Amaya Perez-Brumer, Richard. Parker, Amelia. Sprong, and Marni Sommer. 2021. “Improving Menstrual Equity in the USA: Perspectives from Trans and Non-Binary People Assigned Female at Birth and Health Care Providers.” Culture, Health and Sexuality. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2021.1957151.
Maroko, Andrew R, Kim Hopper, Caitlin Gruer, Maayan Jaffe, Erica Zhen, and Marni Sommer. 2021. “Public Restrooms, Periods, and People Experiencing Homelessness: An Assessment of Public Toilets in High Needs Areas of Manhattan, New York.” PLoS One 16 (6). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0252946.
McGuire, Jenifer K, Sloan Okrey Anderson, and Cari Michaels. 2022. “‘I Don’t Think You Belong in Here:’ The Impact of Gender Segregated Bathrooms on the Safety, Health, and Equality of Transgender People.” Journal of Gay & Lesbian Social Services 34 (1): 40–62. https://doi.org/10.1080/10538720.2021.1920539.
Murib, Z. 2020. “Administering Biology: How ‘Bathroom Bills’ Criminalize and Stigmatize Trans and Gender Nonconforming People in Public Space.” Administrative Theory and Praxis 42 (2): 153–71. https://doi.org/10.1080/10841806.2019.1659048.
Palmer, Mary., Jennifer M. Wu, Celine S. Marquez, Betty Rupp, Mitchell Conover, and Diane K. Newman. 2019. “‘a Secret Club’: Focus Groups about Women’s Toileting Behaviors.” BMC Women’s Health 19 (1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-019-0740-3.
Sommer, Marni, Caitlin Gruer, Rachel Clark. Smith, Andrew Maroko, and Kim Hopper. 2020. “Menstruation and Homelessness: Challenges Faced Living in Shelters and on the Street in New York City.” Health and Place 66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2020.102431.
Shawna Lewkowitz is a PhD Candidate in Geography & Environment at Western University, in the Human Environments Analysis Laboratory (HEAL). She also teaches at King's University College at Western in the Social Justice and Peace Studies. Her research interests include gender, public spaces, and urban environments. Her research focus is on parks, gendered socio-spatial exclusion, and public toilets in Canada.
Jason Gilliland is the Director of the Urban Development Program and a Professor in the Departments of Geography & Environment, Paediatrics, Health Studies, and Epidemiology & Biostatistics at Western University, Canada. He is also a Scientist with the Children's Health Research Institute and Lawson Health Research Institute, two of Canada's leading hospital-based research institutes. He is also the Director of the Human Environments Analysis Laboratory (HEAL), a multidisciplinary research and training center which develops and connects highly skilled researchers to create, disseminate, and mobilize knowledge for making healthy, thriving communities.