# Public restrooms: why don't/couldn't Ladies' have urinals?; pee-to-poop ratio of users **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 9, 2013, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-restrooms-why-dont-couldnt-ladies-have-urinals-pee-to-poop-ratio-of-users/657892 "2013-05-09T14:49:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-restrooms-why-dont-couldnt-ladies-have-urinals-pee-to-poop-ratio-of-users/657892/21 "2013-05-10T02:24:33Z")
> [@thicksantorum](#): > > This. Especially since anyone with sense uses their foot anyway… Huh??? ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-restrooms-why-dont-couldnt-ladies-have-urinals-pee-to-poop-ratio-of-users/657892/22 "2013-05-10T08:12:13Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Well, that’s the point: I’d think the greater good for women would be access, period, even if a little more care must be taken. > > Design change thus becomes a political choice. > > I seem to remember a posti did with something else having to do with the unfairness/problem of ladies having to wait on line longer than men. Something must have caused my empathy/sympathy once, fairly dramatically. So you still think women should use urinals even when you’ve been told why they don’t work well for women? Since the woman still has to pull down her clothing as much as when sitting, and wipe (men don’t have to, I hear) there wouldn’t be much time saved anyway, and very little space. And most women wouldn’t use them because they don’t want to bare their arse in front of strangers and risk peeing over their clothes. How fussy of them. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-restrooms-why-dont-couldnt-ladies-have-urinals-pee-to-poop-ratio-of-users/657892/23 "2013-05-10T13:32:42Z")
Women also need to change pads or tampons in public restrooms, and most of us want to use a stall for this. ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-restrooms-why-dont-couldnt-ladies-have-urinals-pee-to-poop-ratio-of-users/657892/24 "2013-05-10T13:43:21Z")
> [@thicksantorum](#): > > Especially since anyone with sense uses their foot anyway… The reason they are dirty in the first place is that idiots keep using the bottom of their shoes to flush them. It’s a self-fulfilling prophesy. If they just used the back of their arm, elbow, knee, whaterever else, there wouldn’t be a problem. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-restrooms-why-dont-couldnt-ladies-have-urinals-pee-to-poop-ratio-of-users/657892/25 "2013-05-10T13:50:46Z")
Somehow using an elbow or knee on this just seems a little awkward: [http://www.featurepics.com/online/Public-Toilet-Picture142423.aspx](http://www.featurepics.com/online/Public-Toilet-Picture142423.aspx) Especially if your are standing and peeing. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-restrooms-why-dont-couldnt-ladies-have-urinals-pee-to-poop-ratio-of-users/657892/26 "2013-05-10T13:56:34Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Well, that’s the point: I’d think the greater good for women would be access, period, even if a little more care must be taken. Nope, really - I’d rather stand in line than use a urinal. I’ve never been in a situation where I had to pee so bad and wait so long that I’d rather awkwardly scrunch up my clothes and possibly pee on myself while squatting in front of everyone, than wait in line a few minutes more. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-restrooms-why-dont-couldnt-ladies-have-urinals-pee-to-poop-ratio-of-users/657892/27 "2013-05-10T14:48:59Z")
Frankly, many women feel awkward about being naked for too long in gym locker rooms. Plus we’ve had many threads here about the etiquette of urinal-choosing for men, not to mention issues with “shy bladder.” In that light, put some thought into the actual mechanics of it and it should become excruciatingly clear that most men **or** women would not be eager to use a public bathroom that required them to, outside the confines of a stall, take their pants and underwear down below the knees, face the wall and straddle a hole or basin, squat down (exposing your bare ass to random strangers (and their kids) and anyone gawking in past the door), bunch your garments together with one hand to avoid pissing on your clothes, and finally manage to do your business. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2013, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-restrooms-why-dont-couldnt-ladies-have-urinals-pee-to-poop-ratio-of-users/657892/28 "2013-05-11T05:57:59Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > 1. squat difficult for older people; > > 2. squat embarrassing. I thought about this–men get over it, but critical, I think, their faces (to see and be seen) are to the wall; It’s silly to attempt to compare men’s urinals to the proposed women’s by saying that if men can “get over it” then women should as well. What exactly do men need to “get over”? The only thing which can be seen is in the front and [del]it takes[/del] I’m guessing it would take quite an effort to see anything. In addition to older people, you have pregnant women, people with bad knees, are overweight or have other physical issues which cause squatting to be uncomfortable. > [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > But, ladies, why doesn’t scrunching down underpants and pants down the thighs but still on “squat lap” and above the knee anchor them sufficiently from falling to the ground? It has worked for me (in an emergency bushes poop). Taking an emergency crap once every blue moon when you’re camping is not the same as having to do it every time. This also neglects the fact that squatting requires you do something with whatever you are holding in your hands. Start to put shelves into your precious real estate and you’re not saving as much space. > [@](#): > > How many? Pee-to-poop-and other-stuff ratio. Somebody must have done this. No public facility (lobby, elevator bank) is designed without a usage assumption. This is a pet peeve of my sister, an engineer. They don’t do good usage assumptions. Typically, the same space is allocated for men’s and women’s rest rooms, and then divide up the areas into all stalls for women or stalls and urinals for men, which has the net result of there being many more facilities for them men, when the true requirement is the opposite. The amount of extra time required to men to unzip, etc., is less than for women. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-restrooms-why-dont-couldnt-ladies-have-urinals-pee-to-poop-ratio-of-users/657892.md?page=1)