No unisex please we're British
October 1st 2008

Do washrooms really need to be separated by gender? Single parent families are on the increase; men are more concerned about appearance and younger women are becoming more 'laddish'.SCA Tissue Europe's Jenny Turner looks at the pros and cons of a more continental unisex approach

Male and female roles are changing all the time. Fathers are becoming more 'hands-on' and it is now commonplace for a dad to change a baby's nappy or take a child to the loo.

Meanwhile, the male grooming industry is growing rapidly and men are paying more attention to their appearance.As for women, they are becoming more practical and business-like, and a growing 'ladette' culture is emerging. So why are our Ladies and Gents toilets stuck firmly in the past? The Gents is still often a fairly basic affair with urinals, stark walls and scruffy fixtures.Mirrors are not necessarily supplied and there may be fewer basins and hand towel dispensers than in the Ladies.

The smell in the Gents is often more unpleasant too, since air fresheners are not always installed and the use of urinals can lead to a build-up of uric acid in the tile grouting.

The Ladies, on the other hand, tends to be a much cosier environment.A mirror and vanity shelf is more or less expected and in hotels and restaurants there may also be fresh flowers and hand creams to add to the 'home from home' ambiance. Frilly curtains and fluffy towels often complete the overall impression of a highly feminine environment straight out of the 1950s.

The differences between these two washroom experiences are surely greater than they need to be.While modern women obviously appreciate clean, hygienic washrooms, few of them actually require any of the extra frills and fripperies that are often provided.Men on the other hand would probably appreciate a few more comforts than they have come to expect.

Moving towards communal facilities would be a drastic change from the status quo, but unisex washrooms would certainly have some advantages. Single fathers would no longer have to worry about taking their youngsters into a sleazy, run-down Gents washroom.Mirrors would finally be made available to all, and urinalshy men would have greater access to cubicles.

More importantly, hand hygiene might well improve. Statistics show that men are more likely to neglect hand hygiene than women – maybe because Gents washrooms are a less pleasant place to linger than the Ladies. In fact since women appear to expect higher standards in a washroom than men, a move towards unisex washrooms could help to raise standards across the board.

However,we in Britain have a long-standing tradition of separate washrooms and a widescale switch to unisex facilities may meet some resistance.When SCA Tissue Europe carried out a survey to find out what the public liked and disliked about public loos,we found that unisex toilets abroad were frequently listed among the 'dislikes' – though interestingly enough, only by women.

It could be that women feel they have less to gain if washrooms were to become unisex.Communal facilities would probably be less desirable in areas where the presence of males might intimidate female users, such as in isolated parks or in schools for instance.

There is also the embarrassment factor to take into consideration.

While our continental counterparts may take a more pragmatic approach to toileting, British men and women will not necessarily feel comfortable about performing personal grooming tasks – or using sanitary protection or condom machines – in one another's presence.

And the Ladies washrooms in bars, restaurants and clubs are traditionally seen as an all-female refuge.

So while it seems unlikely that we in Britain will switch to unisex washrooms anytime soon, there have definitely been a few moves in this direction already.Gents washrooms in hotels and restaurants are generally becoming smarter and more conducive to grooming than in the past. Upmarket pub chains such as Wetherspoon and All Bar One are now providing communal washing areas outside individual Ladies and Gents toilet cubicles.Meanwhile, mens' and womens' washrooms in high-traffic areas such as shopping precincts and service stations are becoming increasingly uniform, with 'family washrooms'often provided in place of mother-and-baby rooms.

Such washrooms are often more open-plan affairs, screened off from one another by partitions rather than doors. Partitions may not provide the privacy experienced in completely separate facilities, but they do create a more hygienic environment since they eliminate the need for visitors to touch a door handle after washing their hands.

So perhaps such washrooms will become the norm in future, allowing Gents and Ladies facilities to become more uniform while also remaining separate.We may also see a move towards the washroom provision experienced in other European countries such as Sweden, where office toilets are often unisex cubicles with their own washing facilities.These allow both men and women to carry out personal grooming tasks in complete privacy.

In today's climate of equality, there is no convincing argument in favour of separate washrooms for men and women – other than the fact that a few of us seem to want them. Perhaps the best answer for all of us would be to ensure that every public washroom – both Gents or Ladies – provides a hygienic, comfortable and efficient environment for every visitor. For information on SCA please contact the company using the telephone number provided.

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