Women’s loo queues- what’s going on??

[SanctusInDistress]

I’m in my 50s, so I have plenty of experience using the women’s public lavatories. In the past 5 years, I’ve noticed that the queues are out of this world. And not just in tbe UK. Everywhere I go, the women’s queues are always super long and move very slowly.

is it that people now use their phone whilst in there? A pee and a quick browse?

ladies, what’s going on?! Are our bladders and rectums getting bigger so it takes more time to discharge, or are we using public loos to catch up on our social media when out and about?

is it just me who has noticed this? I don’t go any more often than when I was in my 30s.

Am I being unreasonable for thinking that women’s lav queues are getting ridiculous?

The women's always have a longer queue but I haven't noticed that they are any longer than previously.

Women have always taken longer, but nowadays they take a lot lot lot lot longer. Not just the UK, in Europe too (never travel outside of Europe so don’t know).

Public toilets, many run by councils,
are closing all over the place. So that doesn’t help.

This but added in men are getting more loos and women therefore have less.

A new supermarket near me had 7 male loos and 7 female loos - women take longer (we have to change sanitary towels etc ) and it’s dire.

Well this is going fairly predictably.

We've got
The disabled toilet debate
The gender neutral toilet debate
And the men identifying as women in the ladies toilet debate.

Because whilst you are in there, there could be someone with Crohn's disease waiting outside, who has genuine urgency, and is incontinent. And that is not going to end well.

If you are capable of holding it (which most people are), then you should.

Some people are genuinely not capable of holding it and really need that disabled toilet.

Personally, as an adult, I have never actually been in a situation where I actually cannot physically hold it whilst I wait in a queue.

Unless you are genuinely about to s* your pants, then you need to wait.

I always notice this at the theatre- huge queue for the ladies toilets not the men’s. I wish they took this into account when building new theatres and creating extra ladies toilets but it’s always the same situation.

I haven't actually found that but maybe I don't go to the same places. I had to queue for a while last week but some of the women had children with them. Also the wash basin were in the cubicles, having them outside would probably speed things up.

This happens to me all the time. I never understand how so many women spend sooo long in there. They can't all have periods etc

Surely that goes against building regulations? Unless some of those counted as men's are handicapped/family.

And this is why places lock them. I have a RADAR issued key although I'm lucky to rarely even need it to use it as most time I can wait, its only if my kidney is particularly acting up I need it.

Yes, disabilities are often invisible (I don't look disabled) but people can often have disabilities that mean they can't actually wait, I can black out from pain if I don't get to a toilet in minutes when an attack happens. If you can wait then you are lucky, a mild inconvenience of waiting to you can be a major one to someone less fortunate.

I know what you mean. The only place I have been where the Gents have longer queues is a football stadium.

A few times when I've been in a mega long queue and I get near the front and realise person at number 1 in the queue is staring for someone to come out the cubical, but totally unaware that at least five cubicles are empty out of eight. And the trend continues down the line, three toilets in use and no one investigating empty cubicles and causing the long queue... It makes me mad, I end up walking out the queue and into an empty cubicle and looking at people in front to alert that there's many empty cubicles!

The average age of the population is increasing. Old ladies spend far longer in the loo and confer more frequently than young women.

This is totally it. The council here has closed most public toilets. Some are kept open and looked after and funded by community groups.
most places where there are toilets is large shops, restaurants, cafe. So you have to spend money to go into a cafe to use them.

Whenever I go to the M&S loos there’s always a massive queue for the ladies while the men are just in and out, no queue. I take one look at the queue and leave. I usually end up at the paying loos, there’s never a queue there.

Suspect your ability to hang on is diminishing as you get older!

More people of course.

One of the many reasons I love to watch cricket 💜

In order to be "fair" they made women's and men's bathrooms the same size.

You can fit a lot more urinals in a space than you can toilet stalls.

Straight away, you have fewer toilets for women than for men.

Also, dealing with periods takes more time than just peeing.

Old age problems 😔

I think it is the phone factor. ..

Could the trend for dungarees and jumpsuits be something to do with it?

I was wondering this the other day. I realise that women need to change their period pads/tampons etc but not all of them on any given day! But the other day I went to my local parkrun. There are four toilets available to use. I was second in the queue. After quite a wait, one person came out and the lady in front went in. And then was next out. By the time I'd got in and come out, only one of the other three cubicles had "changed hands".

Goodness knows what they were all doing!

I saw a funny post on social media the other day where someone said the gender imbalance in cycling had its upsides - a long queue for the men's, and nobody waiting for the ladies!

Never taken my phone out in a bathroom in my life. If i have a choice it doesn't even come in with me. I have hidden disabilities so have a radar key as i need the space and privacy. It likely takes me 10 minutes all in to go for a wee so its best for everyone i'm not in the regular toilets.