DNA : Women are now taking a stand in public toilets : Sept 9, 2007
women are now taking a stand in public toilets
venkatesan vembu.
hong kong
penelope wong has a secret that she occasionally tucks away beneath her
skirt. it’s a handy, disposable, sterile paper cone called urinelle,
manufactured by a dutch company, that wong uses as a urination funnel to
avoid sitting on toilet seats in public facilities owing to concerns over
hygiene standards. “i picked it up during my travels in europe,” says wong,
“and you could say it’s changed my life: earlier i used to be paranoid about
using public toilets. but now, i can ‘stand and deliver’ – just like men –
and occasionally, i even manage to whistle a happy tune.”
wong’s paranoia about hygiene in public toilets is, of course, widely shared
by women with overfilled bladders across the world, and has even been
immortalised in literature. in a scene in the god of small things, for
instance, arundhati roy gives a graphic account of the acrobatic postures
that rahel adopts in order to avoid sitting on a public toilet seat.
“research shows that women hardly ever sit on a public toilet seat,
preferring to hover or even perch,” notes orde levinson, who has devised
‘urology solutions’ products for women.
increasingly, though, women like wong are relying on ‘hygiene accessories’
like urination funnels as an alternative to such closet calisthenics.when
nature calls, she’s just gotta go urinelle, for instance, is being sold in
18 countries across six continents, and there are many other similar
products – like whiz and she-pee and freshette – in the market.
last fortnight, the hong kong toilet association (hkta) showcased an
assortment of ‘female urinal’ products at an exhibition to spread general
awareness about – and solicit feedback on – ‘hygiene accessories’ available
for women. among them were urinelle, and female urinal stalls – which are
much like male urinals, with only some minor modifications to accommodate
women’s physiological differences: the user sort of ‘straddles’ the urinal
and relieves herself.
“in the west, there are many such products,” says hkta president michael
siu, who heads the public design lab at the hong kong polytechnic
university. and from all accounts, women in those societies endorse female
urinal and hygiene accessory products “not only because of the
functionality, but because of the underlying feminist sentiment: the notion
that ‘we can do it standing up, just like men.”
in fact, the urinelle website (urinelle.biz) positively gushes with strident
gender equality sentiments. “all women have, at certain moments, wished that
they could pee standing up, like men. now they can!” it exults.
but in asian countries, these products have not exactly been, well, flush
with success, acknowledges siu. “our exhibition drew a lot of curious
people,” he says. “but even among those who felt that these were clean,
hygienic options for women, we sensed a certain resistance to change.”
according to siu, it isn’t just a case of an “asian sensibility” kicking in.
“there are some residual physical discomforts that women – even in the
west – face when they have to straddle the female urinal. perhaps with
better design, they will gain great acceptability.”
on the other hand, adds siu, ‘urination funnels’ may be particularly useful
in developing countries like mainland china and india, where the levels of
cleanliness in public toilet facilities for women is notoriously bad. “women
who can afford it – each urinelle funnel costs about $1 (about rs40) – can
store them in their handbags, and use them and dispose of them.” they could
also be useful for arthritic or mobility-impaired women who find it
difficult to sit on toilet seats, and even those who are given to outdoor
activities like hiking.
when the world toilet summit 2007 convenes in new delhi on october 31, one
of the themes that will come up for discussion is designing toilets that are
‘gender-sensitive’ and easily accessible to persons with disability. perhaps
the time is near at hand when, with better-designed urinals and greater
availability of hygiene accessory products, women in india too can take a
stand in that most private of spaces: inside their water closets.
(some names have been changed on request)
Publication : DNA; Section : front; Pg :1; Date : 9/9/07
URL :
http://digital.dnaindia.com/epapermain.aspx?edorsup=Main&queryed=20&querypage=1&boxid=30786364&parentid=47773&eddate=09/09/2007