“Equality when it comes to urination”: Amsterdam will build more toilets for women | Amsterdam

The lack of public bathrooms, especially those that are more than a urinal, is one of the main criticisms of those who visit or live in Amsterdam. After a successful campaign, and years of protests by residents, the Dutch city announced an investment of four million euros in “equal urination”. How did it all start?

The issue began to be debated after Geerte Piening, a Dutch student, was fined in 2015 for urinating in the street, in a place where there were no bathrooms nearby. At the time, she was 21 years old and was returning home after a night out. The bars were already closing and she couldn’t use the establishments’ bathrooms. The nearest public toilet was two kilometers away and Geerte was forced to urinate in the street. At the time, she was spotted by a police officer who issued her a fine of 140 euros.

The young woman told the The Guardian who felt angry in the days that followed: “There were lots of urinals for men but I had nowhere to urinate”. She decided to take the case to court after discovering that there were only three public toilets for women compared to 35 urinals for men in the city center, in addition to there being no facilities for people with reduced mobility.

Piening was the second woman accused of urinating in public that the judge had come across. “Women just don’t do it, compared to men,” she said at the trial. The court decided to lower the fine to 90 euros, but Geerte was not satisfied.

According to the Dutch News, the judge also said during the trial that the young woman could have used one of the men’s urinals: “It wouldn’t be pleasant, but it was possible”. Upon hearing this phrase, Geerte Piening joined other women for an awareness campaign: “Power to Peepee”.

Through the use of a hashtag#zeikwijf (which means “woman who urinates”), published photographs in which they tried to use urinals in almost acrobatic poses. Despite the humor, the participants admitted that the main objective of the action was to demonstrate that “it is not possible for women to urinate from decent, hygienic and dignified way” in a public male urinal. A campaign reached Ilana Rooderkerkat the time a city councilor in Amsterdam, who called for greater “equality in urination”.

After more than a hundred posts on Instagram and debating the problem in several gatherings, the city council approved a motion that called for the construction of a greater number of accessible toilets in 2019. Little by little, they began to install bathrooms furniture in green spaces and public areas, especially during the summer period, when the city receives more tourists.

However, the major investment arrives almost six years after the promise. At the beginning of April, the government announced that the city will invest four million euros to build more bathrooms, although they did not provide a number. The exact number is not yet known, however, accessibility is one of the priorities and it is expected that they will be available for use from October. According to NH Nieuws, the first bathroom will be installed in Oosterpark, one of the city’s public parks.

“It took a while but the fact that it is happening is quite good”, commented Geerte Piening on a radio program, after learning about the measure. The young woman also admits that her story quickly became a “feminist issue”, something she did not expect. “Still, it was high time to raise this issue. It’s embarrassing that women don’t have a place to go,” she concluded.

In addition to the reduced number of bathrooms in the city center, the signage of these spaces is also criticized. “Although the municipality has started to introduce signs on the streets, the vast majority of public bathrooms are not indicated,” the Court of Auditors told NL Times. However, there are digital solutions that can help those who are most distressed, such as the Toilet & Urinal Finder or the site official of the city of Amsterdam.

In 2019, French architect Gina Périer created, with the help of architect Alexander Egebjerg, a urinal designed for women: the hot pink spiral allows three people to enter and urinate at the same time, squatting or sitting, each in a compartment without a door, but which protects them from the outside by a curvilinear wall. Since then, Lapee has saved many women from endless queues at summer festivals.

Text edited by Renata Monteiro