Chongqing deputy wants more female toilet stalls

By Zhang Dongya

Representatives to the Political Consultative Conference and the People’s Congress of cities and provinces held last month came up with many “fresh” recendations. Among them was adjusting the ratio of male-female public toilet stalls, suggested by Zhang Huayi, a Chongqing representative.

Crowded ladies’ rooms in restaurants, shopping malls ad cinemas are an all-too-common sight, which Zhang said was due to an inappropriate ratio between male and female restroom stalls.

Women’s restrooms usually have the same number of stalls as the men’s, but the latter ao have urinals. “On average, public restrooms in the street and in big shopping centers have four or five urinals; even small bars and restaurants have two or three,” Daniel Chen, a Beijing resident, saidThe construction of public restrooms seems to still be guided by the ancient saying, “men make money and women make the home,” which reflected the fact that women of olden times did not have much activities outside the house, Zhang said.

Now, women have been “liberated” and “hold up half the sky,” bringing about a new set of problems, said Zhang, who is also a researcher at Chongqing’s city’s Institute of Education Sciences.

Zhang said that considering men and women’s biological differences, it takes men less time to relieve themselves than women.

In 1989, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development mandated that the ratio of male to female public restroom stalls be set at 2 to 3. The latest regulation on construction and management of urban public toilets, dated 2008, says “public toilets should be constructed with full consideration of the ratio between genders and the dmands of different people, instead of the blind pursuit of a favorable appearance.”

Public response to Zhang’s recommendations has been mixed. Some say legislators should pay more attention to big issues, not trivialies others agree with the suggestion and think it has a big influence on people’s daily lives.

“I advise that we not only have more stalls for women, but also equip restrooms with dressing tables – Women spend more time  the toilet and sometimes have to fix their makeup,” Wendy Zhou, a Beijing resident, said.