Behind the seemingly “natural” gender-separated bathrooms

Figure 1. Gender neutral toilet signage at a Google office inclusive to hikers, Android, batman, a pregnant lady, a man, woman, mermaid, Jedi, pirate, alien and person in a cape.

The issue of gender separation in bathrooms has been a long contentious talk. Figure 1 shows one response towards this issue done by a Google office’s toilet signage that includes a picture of a hiker, Android, batman, a pregnant lady, a man, woman, mermaid, Jedi, pirate, alien and person in a cape. To understand this issue better, we’ll be going back in history of how gendered bathrooms emerged.

Figure 2. An Ancient Roman latrine

In Pakistan’s Indus Valley, where one of the earliest baths were found, male and female used the same area for purification ritual before they entered the holy space. The Greeks and Romans used public baths and toilets as social places, as shown in Figure 2. My previous research on the Islamic view of cleanliness in bathrooms, highlighted the aspect of privacy that connects to purity and brought a different perspective that raise the notion that some body parts shall be kept private, whether it is from an opposing or same gender, with married couples being an exception (Rahmadhani and Hamid).

While the earliest global history of bathrooms has shown that the process of urination and defecation were not a matter of privacy, the present world shows otherwise. This is apparent through the separation of gender in public bathrooms. As explored in the research paper “Sex-Separation in Public Restrooms: Law, Architecture, and Gender” by Kogan, current world views have been socially constructed to make gender-separated restrooms feel natural, even though it is not the most inclusive practice. The purpose of this essay is to help us better understand the aspects that contribute towards the emergence of gender-separated bathrooms since the nineteenth century, the role of architecture and the issues raised and over sought from having gender-separated bathrooms, all in hope to inform us in making better design decisions and approaches in the future.

History of gender-separated restrooms

The first laws to make public restrooms separated by sex were not mandated until late nineteenth century. These laws were extensions to protective legislation aimed at women and children in the workplace that started during the second half of the nineteenth century (Kogan). The following sections will cover the first half of the nineteenth century that was known as the Age of Idealism, and the second half of the nineteenth century that was known as the Age of Realism.

Figure 3. Cult of True Womanhood

1. The First Half of the Nineteenth Century: The Age of Idealism

In this era, workplaces were men’s domain and the place for women was at home. The “cult of True Womanhood”, as it was often referred to, was the common society’s ideology that put emphasis on women to stay domestic and in private while working on household activities. Working women have a bad connotation, as it is seen as taking skilled men’s righteous domain. Young women who worked at factories, work temporarily to fill in their time as they wait to ultimately get married. The Age of Idealism, differentiate men and women based on a matter of idealism, social propriety, and etiquette. (Kogan)

2. The Second Half of the Nineteenth Century: The Age of Realism

Figure 4. Women in World War II

When men started leaving for war, the needs for more workers arose and more opportunities were available for women (Figure 4). As the number of working women increases, society’s ideology is shifting. The rise of scientific research provided facts and data concerning the inherent physical and mental distinctions and capacities between men and women, this is where the Age of Realism took place. A movement that was devoted to “verifiable knowledge and tangible concerns”, Realism infused every intellectual and artistic aspect of life in the late nineteenth century. Thorough testing and measurement are crucial to scientific research. Since the rise of science, the inherent weakness of women has been proven. Legislations aimed towards protecting women at the workplace were arising, including prohibitions of women from working in dangerous physical work or professions, prohibitions of women working promptly before or after child labor, mandates given to women for relief time for meals, prioritized seats and driving lane for women, rest period throughout the day, and directions to keep women’s health and wellness due to their reproductive capacity. (Kogan)

The emergence of protective labor legislation for women raised two contrary ways of thinking. One side of the coin argued that it is a positive attitude with genuine aspirations to prevent unwanted harm towards women from the heavy, rough and high-risk workplace or workload. The other side of the coin declared that it was a mere blessing in disguise, that actually an underestimation towards women’s competence and prevention for women to get offered the same opportunities as men in the workplace. The history records long-going debates on this matter. (Kogan)

Roles of architecture, current issues, and future prototypes

Figure 5. Public bathroom layout with 50/50 split in floor space between the men’s and women’s bathrooms. Illustration by Mona Chalabi.

Architecture is not exempt from being one of the factors that contributes towards the contentious arguments on the distinctions between men and women. As Kogan have outlined, “Theories … have argued that the spatial arrangements of our buildings and communities reflect and reinforce our understandings of sex and gender, and help to define and police the sexual hierarchies that exist in our culture.” Men have often been associated with spatial planning and building constructions of the urban skyscrapers and streets, while women with domesticity, interior decorations, mixed-use and residential projects. Certain architectural theories, as observed by critical architectural theorists, have been linked with masculinity and femininity in the past; “the unadorned and simple as masculine, the adorned and ornamented as feminine; the public and outside as masculine (and heterosexual), the private and inside as feminine (and homosexual); hard surfaces as masculine, soft surfaces as feminine.” (Kogan) Most of us don’t know where these thoughts or biases come from, but it is embedded within our minds and we’ve come to accept it as the natural way.

While architecture plays many roles in this matter, the most apparent is in the gender separation in public restrooms. In the name of equity and fairness, women and men’s public bathrooms are often made equal in square footage, locations, and even the door and signage styles. A move that over sought the distinct biological circumstances of men and women, from the type and size of fixtures, maneuvering positions, length of time for each gender when using the bathroom. As shown in Figure 5, with the “equal” floor area split between the two gendered bathrooms, the average wait time for women to use the bathroom is six minutes 19 seconds , while men wait just 11 seconds. This explains why women’s restrooms often have long lines while the men’s are empty. What was meant to foster equity, ended up creating an imbalance in facilitation.

Moreover, gender separation in public bathrooms also neglected the minorities or special needs of the individuals in our society. The socially constructed ideology of the need for gender separation have ignored the less obvious scenes. As stated by Kogan, “It all seems so obvious … unless:

you happen to be a wheelchair-user who needs the assistance of your opposite-sex partner in a public restroom facility.
you happen to be a transsexual person dressed in accord with your gender identity who is prohibited from using the workplace restroom designated for the sex with which you identify.
you happen to be a woman at a rock concert standing in a long line outside the restroom marked “Women,” while no line exists outside the door marked “Men.”
you happen to be a parent tending an opposite-sex, five-year-old child when you or your child suddenly needs a public restroom.
you happen to be an intersexed child, born with ambiguous genitals and/or reproductive organs, whose parents have decided (despite social pressure and pressure from the medical community) not to subject their child to surgery until the child can participate in that decision.”

The examples above present only some of the less obvious scenarios. Behind the seemingly “natural” gender-separated public restrooms, there are individuals experiencing hardships and inflicted for doing basic bodily functions in public facilities. (Kogan). Figure 6, 7, 8 below show some potential gender neutral bathroom designs emerging for the future.

Figure 7. Section diagram of Stalled’s airport restroom prototype. Joel Sanders Architect

Figure 6. Researchers considered four different bathroom layouts. Illustration: Mona Chalabi/The Guardian

Figure 6 shows 4 bathroom layouts and their respective wait time for both women and men gender. We’ve looked at the flawed 50/50 layout that creates a significant imbalance on the amount of wait time (women’s averaging at 6 minutes 19 seconds, and men’s at 11 seconds) and total number of toilets (women’s bathroom with 10 toilets, and men’s with 12) . The third layout shows equilibrium, it is the only one

Figure 8. Aerial view of Stalled’s airport restroom prototype. Joel Sanders Architect

without men’s standing urinal toilet.

Figure 7 and 8 show the “Stalled!”‘s airport inclusive restroom prototype by Joel Sanders Architect based in New York who worked closely with trans theorist, legal scholar, and policy analyst for accessibility. “Stalled!” focuses on creating a public and social realm to the once-isolating rest area by introducing open circulation to the bathroom, floor-to-ceiling toilet stalls, and segregation of activity zones based on the privacy level.

Conclusion

All in all, the current global approach to gendered public restrooms is not the most inclusive and accommodative. The hard line drawn on gender distinctions is one of the many roles of architecture. Gender distinctions emerged as the society shifted from the movement of Idealism to Realism, and committed to creating a safer place for women in the workplace. Despite the over sought issues that occur afterwards, gender separation emerged for a reason as back in the old days, this wasn’t the case. Understanding that gender-separated bathrooms were not natural and getting informed with the issues that led to that decision and the issues that are currently present due to that decision, will hopefully help us be more mindful when designing future public bathrooms.

Bibliography

Rahmadhani, Novi, and M Irfan M P Hamid. “Islamic Bathroom: A Recommendation of Bathroom Layout Design with Islamic Values”. International Journal of Architecture and Urbanism Vol. 2, No. 3, 2018 pp. 241-252. Talenta Publisher.

Kogan, Terry S. “Sex-Separation in Public Restrooms: Law, Architecture, and Gender”. Michigan Journal of Gender & Law Vol. 14, No. 1, 2017 pp. 1-57. University of Michigan. https://repository.law.umich.edu/mjgl/vol14/iss1/1

Spula, Ian. “An Unexpected Ally of Gender-Neutral Restrooms: Building Codes”. Architect Magazine. 2017. https://www.architectmagazine.com/practice/an-unexpected-ally-in-gender-neutral-restrooms-building-codes_o