Our reporter (Wei Mingyan) - Yesterday, one week before the "International Women's Day", Fangping Li, Qianfan Zhang, Xingdou Hu and nine other male lawyers and scholars sent a citizen suggestion letter about increasing the proportion of female toilet stalls to the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development. They suggested that the Ministry improve the "Urban Public Toilet Design Standard" it has formulated, compulsorily specify the proportion of women's toilets, clarify the approval and acceptance mechanism of public toilets, thereby ensuring the equal rights of women.
"Increasing the proportion of women's toilets, men are also beneficiaries, which can reduce the time men wait for their female companions when traveling," said ten male citizens from Beijing, Guangdong, Henan, Shandong, Hunan, Jiangsu, and Shanghai in the letter.
Current Situation: Unreasonable ratio of men's and women's toilet stalls
The ten male citizens believe that in some places with large passenger flows, such as stations, commercial centers, tourist attractions, etc., the phenomenon of long queues at the entrance of women's toilets is very obvious. This is mainly due to the imbalance of men's and women's toilets.
"Relevant research shows that women spend about twice as much time using the toilet as men. And for pregnant or menstrual women, they go to the toilet more frequently and spend more time. In addition, young children usually go to the women's restroom with their mothers, occupying part of the toilet stalls. Therefore, increasing the proportion of women's toilet stalls is reasonable and justifiable. As a man, I fully support this!" Professor Zanning Zhang, former director of the Institute of Health Law at Southeast University, expressed.
Xiangtan University adjunct professor Chen Pingfan said that generally, the number of men's and women's squat toilets is the same, but there are about the same number of urinals in the men's restroom, which makes the women's restroom accommodate half fewer people than the men's restroom. "This situation exacerbates the imbalance between the two sexes' toilet situations," said Professor Qianfan Zhang from Peking University Law School.
Reason: Existing regulations lack enforceability
The "Urban Public Toilet Design Standard" implemented since December 2005 stipulates that public toilets should appropriately increase the floor area and number of stalls for women's restrooms. The ratio of men's to women's squat (seat, stand) stalls should ideally be 1:1-2:3, independent public toilets should ideally be 1:1, and public toilets in commercial areas should ideally be 2:3.
"The 'Standard' considers the different needs of men and women when using the restroom, but the expression of the stall ratio is 'preferably', not 'should be', lacking enforceability, leading to arbitrary execution, failing to effectively improve the problem of 'long queues at women's restrooms,'" said public interest lawyer Kun Pang from Guangdong Denalaw Firm.
Professor Xingdou Hu from Beijing Institute of Technology believes that "using public toilets is a basic human right, and the design of the toilet stall ratio should consider the physiological differences between men and women." He pointed out that "in the future, all buildings, especially public place buildings, must have gender perspectives on toilet facilities, and especially new buildings should have an advanced planning and approval process."
Suggestion: The ratio of men's and women's toilet stalls should reach 2:1
In the joint suggestion letter, the ten male citizens proposed that to avoid ambiguity and inconsistent execution, the "Urban Public Toilet Design Standard" should be revised and improved, mandatorily specifying that the ratio of women's toilet stalls (including squat and seat stalls) to men's toilet stalls (including squat, seat, and standing stalls) in public toilets must reach 2:1, and the ratio of women's to men's squat (seat) stalls must reach 4:1, with the area of women's restrooms also needing to be correspondingly increased; at the same time, the "Standard" should also stipulate that public toilets must add barrier-free toilet stalls and appropriately add third restrooms (similar to unisex restrooms on trains and airplanes).
Investigation: Male toilet stalls are generally more than female ones
On February 26, reporters visited some men's and women's public toilets in three teaching buildings of Renmin University, Contemporary Mall, the emergency department of Peking University Stomatology Hospital, and De Sheng Men Nei Street, finding that the ratio of urinals (including urinals) in men's toilets to those in women's toilets was approximately 1.5:1. Among the randomly visited toilets, only the third-floor women's restrooms in Renmin University teaching buildings had more stalls than the men's toilets.