Female Coconauts: what proportion of your waking life do you think you’ve spent standing in line for the bathroom? We can’t tell you the exact duration, but we do know this: TOO LONG!
Objectification aside, N.E.R.D had a point: there are a lot of girls standing in line for the bathroom.
Though progress has been made, it will be a long road ahead before toilet lines become a little bit more equitable.
Back in 2011 the government said it planned on amending the outdated Building Regulations so that by law, buildings would have to have more female toilets than male toilets.
In 2012, after the government conducted what we are sure was a very bureaucratic, slow and inefficient consultation with various “stakeholders” (Women? Humans who use toilets?), it decided that there should be exactly 1.5 female toilet stalls for every one male toilet stall.
Victory!
BUT – because the government moves slowly, the regulations have not yet been amended, though in 2012 they did update the standards in the “practice notes” for engineers, encouraging but not mandating building more female toilets.
“Originally, the government planned for an overhaul of the [Building] Regulations,” Secretary for Development Paul Chan said today in response to a question from (considerate, male) lawmaker Leung Yiu-chung.
“But in view of the complexity of the exercise […] we envisage [it] will take years to complete.”
Thus, in January the government has decided to accelerate the implementation of the new toilet standards before the rest of the Building Regulations are amended.
The Architectural Services Department has been building more women’s toilets than men’s in new buildings, while adding women’s toilets during major renovations of existing government buildings.
But unfortunately, it will still be a few years before the new standards become law.
Until then, ladies, you’ll have to keep packing for three-day trips when you attempt to use the bathroom at crowded venues.
Photo: Graham Richardson via Flickr
