It is a problem I agree. Men get put off having a wee especially.
People can hold off pooing for a long time. Others can’t and will have the indignity of people hearing them poo. In toilet terms this is where wants and needs come in. We need safe toilets but we want private toilets. When it’s mixed sex the want to be private also becomes a need, due to voyeurism.
Many in the world don’t even have toilets. It’s a fascinating subject in terms of health and safety. It’s interesting but around the world, it’s pretty much consistent that girls and woman won’t use toilet cubicles if they are used by men too. Privacy from the opposite sex is worldwide as far as I know in workplace toilets for adults, which is why the Leonardo case is so extraordinary. They are talking about allowing an adult man to be in a cubicle with floor to door gaps with an adult woman. And the judge even noted the door gap would help with hygiene.
In terms of complete privacy it will always be more dangerous in an enclosed toilet on your own. Do not feel too embarrassed if you are in a restaurant and start choking and rush to the toilet. Several people have died that way. It takes 4 minutes for brain damage to start to occur if someone stops breathing. The young woman we rescued was already blue but we got her breathing again. A quick google finds ‘Defibrillation within 3–5 minutes of collapse can produce survival rates up to 50% - 70%. Each minute of delay reduces the probability of survival to hospital discharge by 10%.’ Epilepsy and diabetes are concerns. It seems a bit daft to have defibrillators in public spaces but not be able to see people in the place where they are like to go if they fall ill before they collapse. Toilets are not checked that often. I have lots of recent incidences where people are found in private toilet designs and it’s too late (including children in schools in the uk). It’s very distressing. It’s where people go to take drugs, overdose and take their own lives. It’s where young women go when their drinks have been spiked. There was a recent case where the reason they realised there was a fatality was because of the smell. The toilet had not been checked for 6 days. It was in council offices not far from Leonardos.
Because of the well known risks of collapsing in a toilet, all non-domestic toilets should be able to be opened from the outside. That safety requirement is in building documents for England and Scotland. Now of course you get the worst of all scenarios for women and children. It’s better to know if anyone is waiting outside your cubicle, to be aware of your surroundings if someone can let themselves in.
I would be interested in seeing how a specific ‘gender neutral’ facility would work if it wasn’t private. I predict women and transmen wouldn’t use it. I have learn a lot studying what transwomen and transmen want and need in toilets.
There are very much cultural differences with door gaps btw. I am sticking to British Standards in the time period when the 1992 legislation was passed which was a floor to door gap of a max 15cm (similar to a kitchen kickboard) and then space above a 2metre door. This is in contrast to cubicle doors in American that seem more like saloon bar doors.
We are so close to getting it right in this country. If men and women are allowed in all cubicles, I know the cubicles around the country will go private (with or without shared sinks) and there will be more fatalities and assaults in less hygienic toilets. It’s all so predictable. I have learned a lot from what has happened in secondary school designs which is why I can predict that.
In terms of writing a book, I don’t have the money to take time off to write it! I haven’t found anyone who is looking at women’s safety and design in the same detail.
For sanitation and the importance of toilets, I would recommend Rose George ‘The Big Necessity’.
Here’s a Ted talk she did 12 years ago where she talks crap: