To wonder why the queue for the ladies toilets is always longer than the mens?

[dottypotter]

Today queuing for the toilet in a shop this is my observation and in general I notice it too.

The ladies toilet has a massive queue. The mens toilet has no queue.
Men are in and out of their toilets much quicker.

Do women go to the toilet more often than men then? 🤔

Architects have to follow the requirements set out by both building regs and HSE. They don't just make it up. Minimum bathroom/Toilet requirements vary depending on the number of people in the building and the buildings end use. Woman get allocated more cubicles then men do but flat is offset by the men having urinals.

*scarves

Lots of good explanations here for you OP. But the truly mysterious question is why - different to North America - no European countries have ever seen a broad political.movemrnt to push for equitable toilet access for women. "Potty parity" has been a thing in the US for the last 30 years - even some incredibly backward states have regulations on the ratio of male to female toilets required in new buildings. All we do instead is faffing about with making existing facilities mixed-sex - usually in a way that even worsens access for women (by making "cubicles and urinals" pro forma mixed sex) while further expanding male privilege.

Here's a good example of what sensible regulation looks like: https://www.civilbeat.org/2020/03/potty-parity-should-women-have-more-public-toilets-than-men/

Blokes tell me that it's unusual to use the urinal. They always prefer stalls & if they do use a urinal, they go to the corner & strive to never look at anyone else's tadger or make any eye contact.

Ask your pet bloke if they use the urinal always, often, sometimes, never.

Agree that a lot of women take a very long time in cubicle.

Women build little nests out of toilet roll or spend ages positioning themselves to hover rather than just getting on with it.

Tbh I don’t know why some people take so long! When I had toddlers I had to pee quickly - so it can be done!! Different if you’re on, then it takes longer

Op are you really not aware of urinals????

I agree with pps but in home life, compared to the men I know I am lightning fast in the loo. I take about two minutes and my boyfriend and father will take literally thirty minutes in there sometimes. I dont know what they’re doing but it must be very absorbing.

I was recently in a pub in Windsor and went to the loo. There was only one and I waited outside the cubicle for 5 mins as could hear that a child and parent was in there . I then went back to my table and decided to go back in a while. 10 mins later after my drink was finished I went back and the same people were In the cubicle. 3 of us were now waiting . The mum popped her head out and I asked how long she would be as one loo and we’d all been waiting a while. She said her son was using the loo and he wouldn’t be hurried . The cheek of some people astounds me!

I found myself in a cafe last week.
2 toilets 1 marked ladies,1 marked mens, very obviously single cubicle with a lock on door, as always a que for the ladies, as the women in front of me went into the ladies, I decided that for about 5 minutes I would self identify as a man.

Queue!

when the whole pandemic stuff started, i was at the last football match at our stadium, against one of our greatest rivals (so absolutely packed). Outside there is a toilet block. The women's has 14 cubicles, the men's has 12cubicles and 4 urinals.
I wanted to use the loo - and saw the queue from afar and my heart sank. Turned out to be the men's. And as i was walking past i heard one man say "yeah, it's taking ages because everyone is washing their hands with soap."

Women have less sphincters than men I believe so they need to pee more regularly/can’t hold it as long too which doesn’t help.

(clearly I haven’t a medical degree but I heard this is a fact :))

I worked as bc a toilet attendant once. I can confirm that surprisingly few men washed their hands. My office was on the other side of the wall and the tubular heaters under the sinks made a noise when tap turned on. They had to pay 50p, May as we’ll avail yourself of hot water/ soap/ paper towels but no.

This is nonsense, the odd ones out are the blokes using the cubicles to pee when there are spare urinals. Half time at Twickenham sees hundreds of blokes shoulder to shoulder having a piss into metal urinal troughs the length of the room.

Throughput in mens is quicker because there are more urinals than cubicles, they take up less space, so men can be in and out quicker, as less waiting for a free cubicle/urinal, not to mention, most of the dirty sods don't wash their hands.

Because having had children, an unexpected sneeze can cause a leak. Which means I need to go to the toilet.

No, the last project I was on all the architects were women. Architects design toilet facilities to standards which are then checked by building control. If you want to blame someone, blame the standards or the client.

Arsenal and Spurs football stadium have so many toilets there are never queues for the ladies! All designed to standard due to capacity!

Hand washing and makeup is only a thing if the toilets are pods, otherwise they are done outside the cubicle.

I am so quick when I have a wee, people don’t believe me when I say I went for one. If I’m on my period, I am slightly longer. If I am having an IBD flare I’m a lot longer. If I am taking my toddler, I am ages. Often there is no hook so I’m struggling to look for a change of clothes whilst not letting the bag drop on the floor if they’ve been playing in the playground and got wet or had an accident (recently potty trained). Then trying to stop them touching everything, having to take shoes off to change trousers and pants, hold them on the toilet etc. it’s a nightmare!!

So, if I was just having a wee by myself every time I used the toilet I would be as quick, if not quicker than a man. Sadly, that only makes up approximately 60% of my toilet time outside the house!

I use the gents' sometimes.
If challenged , I used to peer shortsightedly at the sign & say "whoops".
Now, I'd either say "I identify as a man", or "I'm in drag".

Oh yes! I have a very sore knee and once I'm down I find it very difficult to get up again!
One of my abiding memories is from long ago taking a party of girls to see a hockey international at Wembley, scores of coaches doing the same journey, at the services the queues for the loos were enormous and the men breezing in and out of their facilities were very amused.
When we had a Royal guest in the Officers' Mess she and her Lady in Waiting were allocated the newly painted Ladies loos, the ladies were allocated the Gents which were quite civilised and the men were allocated the bushes outside!

Men save loads of time by pissing on the floor and not washing their hands. Makes queues much shorter

Sometimes women take longer because they seem to be terrified of making any sort of 'evacuating' noises. I have noticed this many times on entering toilet facilities if someone is already in a cubicle it goes deathly quiet until you have done your business and left; they can then safely resume pissing/farting etc Men care a lot less about these things.

There is actually design guidance these days for women’s toilets to be allocated additional space because as previous posters have mentioned you can fit more urinals in than cubicles. Most buildings though are older than the design guidance and I don’t think it’s mandatory anyway.

Reading perhaps.

This is definitely it.