public toilet

File:YorkUniversityWashroom.JPG, Toronto, Ontario]]

File:Naivasha Public Toilet with Water Kiosk (4918863019).jpg in Kenya]]

File:Hidden Toilets (15665565952).jpg

{{Further|Toilet#Names}}

Public toilets are known by many names in different varieties of English.

In American English, "restroom" commonly denotes a facility featuring toilets and sinks designed for use by the public, but "restroom" and "bathroom" are often used interchangeably for any room with a toilet (both in public and in private homes). "Restroom" is considered by some to be slightly more formal or polite. "Bathroom" is quite common in schools. "Comfort station" sometimes refers to a visitor welcome center such as those in national parks. The term restroom derived from the fact that in the early 1900s through to the middle of the century up-scale restaurants, theatres and performing facilities would often have comfortable chairs or sofas located within or in a room directly adjacent to the actual toilet and sink facilities, something which can be seen in some movies of the time period. An example of this is the description of a "movie palace" which was opening in 1921 which was described as including " ... a rest-room for the fair sex and a lounging room for the sterner sex ... off these rooms are the toilets."{{Cite web|url=https://www.therecord.com/living-story/9553018-flash-from-the-past-hollywood-glamour-appears-in-kitchener-when-the-capitol-opens/|title=Flash from the Past: Hollywood glamour appears in Kitchener when the Capitol opens|date=16 August 2019}}

In Canadian English, public facilities are frequently called and signed as "washrooms", although usage varies regionally. The word "toilet" generally denotes the fixture itself rather than the room. The word "washroom" is rarely used to mean "utility room" or "mud room" as it is in some parts of the United States. "Bathroom" is generally used to refer to the room in a person's home that includes a bathtub or shower while a room with only a toilet and sink in a person's residence is typically called a "washroom" because one would wash one's hands in it upon returning home or before a meal or a "powder room" because women would fix their make-up on their faces in that room. These terms are the terms typically used on floor plans for residences or other buildings. Real estate advertisements for residences often refer to "three-piece washrooms" (include a bathtub or shower) and "two-piece washrooms" (only toilet and sink). In public athletic or aquatic facilities, showers are available in locker rooms.

In Britain, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and New Zealand, the terms in use are "public toilet", "public lavatory" (abbreviated "lav"), "public convenience", and more informally, "public loo". As public toilets were traditionally signed as "gentlemen" or "ladies", the colloquial terms "the gents' room" and "the ladies' room", or simply "the gents" and "the ladies" are used to indicate the facilities themselves. The British Toilet Association, sponsor of the Loo of the Year Awards, refers to public toilets collectively as "away-from-home" toilets.{{cite web|title=Away from home toilet charter|url=http://www.btaloos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/BTAAwayFromHomeToiletCharter.pdf|website=British Toilet Association|access-date=21 March 2017}}

In Philippine English, "comfort room", or "C.R.", is the most common term in use.{{Cite web |url=http://www.philstar.com/sunday-life/2012-11-18/867879/pinoy-english-guide-amalayer-major-major-weather-weather-comfort-room |title=Pinoy English guide: Amalayer, major major, weather weather, comfort room |website=The Philippine STAR |access-date=2017-04-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170406203407/http://www.philstar.com/sunday-life/2012-11-18/867879/pinoy-english-guide-amalayer-major-major-weather-weather-comfort-room |archive-date=2017-04-06 |url-status=dead }}

Some European languages use words cognate with "toilet" (e.g. les toilettes in French; туалет (tualet) in Russian), or the initialism "W.C.", an abbreviation for "water closet", an older term for the flush toilet. In Slavic languages, such as Russian and Belarusian, the term sanuzel (санузел; short for sanitarny uzel — sanitary unit/hub) is sometimes used for public facilities which include a toilet, sink, and possibly a shower, bathtub, and / or bidet. Public urinals (pissoir) are known in several Romance languages by the name of a Roman Emperor: vespasienne in French and vespasiani in Italian.

Mosques, madrassas (schools), and other places Muslims gather, have public sex-separated "ablution rooms" since Islam requires specific procedures for cleansing parts of the body before prayer. These rooms normally adjoin the toilets, which are also subject to Muslim hygienical jurisprudence and Islamic toilet etiquette.

File:Hocktoilette_am_Bahnhof_in_Varenna_-_1.jpg, Italy]]

File:Urilift, Göteborg, Kungsportsplatsen - portrait.gif (Urilift) in Gothenburg]]

Many public toilets are permanent small buildings visible to passers-by on the street. Others are underground, including older facilities in Britain and Canada. Contemporary street toilets include automatic, self-cleaning toilets in self-contained pods; an example is the Sanisette, which first became popular in France.{{cite web|last=Mulrooney |first=Thomas |title=Public Toilets Around the World |url=http://news.plumbworld.co.uk/articles/6-amazing-public-toilets-around-the-world |work=Plumbworld News |access-date=20 January 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131101221044/http://news.plumbworld.co.uk/articles/6-amazing-public-toilets-around-the-world |archive-date=1 November 2013 }} As part of its campaign against open defecation, the Indian government introduced the remotely-monitored eToilet to some public spaces in 2014.{{cite news|title=Clean sweep: How digital solutions like e-toilets are taking on open-defecation|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/clean-sweep-how-digital-solutions-like-e-toilets-are-taking-on-open-defecation/story-okX6mO53riiM77Zui6l6dO.html|access-date=6 April 2018|work=hindustantimes.com/|date=24 March 2018|language=en}}

Public toilets may use seated toilets{{em dash}}as in most Western countries{{em dash}}or squat toilets. Squat toilets are common in many Asian and African countries, and, to a lesser extent, in Southern European countries.{{according to whom|date=June 2024}} In many of those countries, anal cleansing with water is also the cultural norm and easier to perform while squatting than seated.{{according to whom|date=June 2024}}

Another traditional type that has been modernized is the screened French street urinal known as a pissoir (vespasienne).

The telescopic toilet is designed to extend and retract vertically from a cylinder relative to street level depending on the time of day.{{cite news |title=Street toilets go telescopic |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2382831.stm |access-date=8 February 2023 |date=1 November 2002}}{{cite web |title=London's West End: Man crushed by telescopic urinal dies |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-64430454 |website=BBC News |access-date=8 February 2023 |date=27 January 2023}}{{cite web |title=UriLift Triple: retractable unit featuring 3 self-sanitising gents' urinals |url=https://popuptoilet.com/en/assortment/urilift-triple/ |website=Pop-up Toilet Company |access-date=8 February 2023}}{{cite web |title=Amsterdam is home to the world's first retractable female toilet |url=https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2016/03/87534-2/ |website=DutchNews.nl |access-date=8 February 2023 |date=25 March 2016}} It is typically installed in entertainment districts and operational only during weekends, evenings, and nights.{{cite web |title=Explosion may have caused pop-up urinal to elevate |url=https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2014/12/explosion-may-have-caused-pop-up-urinal-to-elevate/ |website=DutchNews.nl |access-date=8 February 2023 |date=1 December 2014}} The first such toilet was a telescopic urinal invented in the Netherlands, which now also offers pop-up toilets for women.{{cite web |last1=Freeman |first1=Colin |title=The loo that rises out of the ground |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/hp/front/the-loo-that-rises-out-of-the-ground-6318964.html |website=Evening Standard |access-date=8 February 2023 |language=en |date=12 April 2012}}{{cite web | title=Retractable facilities| website=Pop-up Toilet Company| url=https://popuptoilet.com/en/assortment/ | access-date=27 January 2023}}

Private firms may maintain permanent public toilets. The companies are then permitted to use the external surfaces of the enclosures for advertising. The installations are part of a street furniture contract between the out-of-home advertising company and the city government and allow these public conveniences to be installed and maintained without requiring funds from the municipal budget.

Various portable toilet technologies are used as public toilets. Portables can be moved into place where and when needed and are popular at outdoor festivals and events. A portable toilet can either be connected to the local sewage system or store the waste in a holding tank until it is emptied by a vacuum truck. Portable composting toilets require removal of the container to a composting facility.

The standard wheelchair-accessible public toilet features wider doors, ample space for turning, lowered sinks, and grab-bars for safety. Features above and beyond this standard are advocated by the Changing Places{{explain|date=June 2024}} campaign.{{cite web|title=What are Changing Places Toilets?|url=http://www.changing-places.org/the_campaign/what_are_changing_places_toilets_.aspx|website=Changing Places|access-date=21 March 2017|archive-date=23 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170423095226/http://changing-places.org/the_campaign/what_are_changing_places_toilets_.aspx|url-status=dead}} Features include a hoist for an adult, a full-sized changing bench, and space for up to two caregivers.

Public toilets have frequently been inaccessible to people with certain disabilities{{example needed|date=June 2024}}.{{cite book |editor1-last=Molotch |editor1-first=Harvey |editor2-last=Noren |editor2-first=Laura |title=Toilet: Public Restrooms and the Politics of Sharing |location=New York |publisher=NYU Press |date=2010}}{{cite book |last=Penner |first=Barbara |title=Bathroom |publisher=Reaktion Books |date=2013}}

As an "away-from-home" toilet room, a public toilet can provide far more than access to the toilet for urination and defecation. People also wash their hands, use the mirrors for grooming, get drinking water (e.g. refilling water bottles), attend to menstrual hygiene needs, and use the waste bins. Public toilets may also become places for harassment of others or illegal activities, particularly if principles of Crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED) are not applied in the design of the facility.

File:Ostia-Toilets.JPG]]

File:Les_règles_de_la_bienséance_et_de_la_civilité_chrétienne_1822.jpg practices]]

File:Gents' washroom, Domus Media, University of Oslo - 20140616.jpg

File:Vespasienne Montréal.jpg in Montréal, Quebec]]

{{Further|Toilet#History||Unisex public toilet|History of water supply and sanitation}}

Public toilets were part of the sanitation system of ancient Rome. These latrines housed long benches with holes accommodating multiple simultaneous users, with no division between individuals or groups.{{Cite web |title=Historical Context |url=https://www.stalled.online/historicalcontext |access-date=2022-04-11 |website=Stalled! |language=en-US}} Using the facilities was considered a social activity.Peter Kasza: [http://www.tagesspiegel.de/wissen/geschichte-das-grosse-latrinum-155-jahre-oeffentliche-toilette/965710.html "Das große Latrinum: 155 Jahre öffentliche Toilette"], in Der Spiegel, 22 June 2007

By the Middle Ages public toilets became uncommon, with only few attested in Frankfurt in 1348, in London in 1383, and in Basel in 1455. A public toilet was built in Ottoman Sarajevo in 1530 just outside a mosque's exterior courtyard wall which is still operating today.{{Cite web |title=Visit the oldest public toilet in Bosnia - Touring Bird |url=https://www.touringbird.com/sarajevo/self-guided/yr7rnn9o |access-date=2019-09-09 |website=www.touringbird.com}}

Sociologist Dara Blumenthal notes changing bodily habits, attitudes, and practices regarding hygiene starting in the 16th century, which eventually led to a resurgence of public toilets.{{Cite book |last=Blumenthal |first=Dara |title=Little Vast Rooms of Undoing: Exploring Identity and Embodiment Thought Public Toilet Spaces |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-78348-034-0 |location=London & New York |pages=71–91}} While it had been perfectly acceptable to relieve oneself anywhere, civility increasingly required the removal of waste product from contact with others.

New instruction manuals, schoolbooks, and court regulations dictated what was appropriate. For instance, in Galateo: or, A Treatise on Politeness and Delicacy of Manners, Giovanni della Casa states “It does not befit a modest, honourable man to prepare to relieve nature in the presence of other people, nor do up his clothes afterward in their presence. Similarly, he will not wash his hands on returning to decent society from private places, as the reason for his washing will arouse disagreeable thoughts in people.” Historian Lawrence Stone contends that the development of these new behaviours had nothing to do with problems of hygiene and bacterial infection, but rather with conforming to increasingly artificial standards of gentlemanly behaviour.{{Cite book |last=Stone |first=Lawrence |title=The Family, Sex and Marriage in England 1500-1800 |publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson |year=1977 |location=London}}

These standards were internalized at an early age. Over time, much that had to be explained earlier was no longer mentioned, due to successful social conditioning. This resulted in substantial reduction of explicit text on these topics in subsequent editions of etiquette literature; for example, the same passage in Les règles de la bienséance et de la civilité Chrétienne by Jean-Baptiste de la Salle is reduced from 208 words in the 1729 edition, to 74 words in the 1774 edition.

The first modern flush toilet had been invented in 1596, but it did not gain popularity until the Victorian era. When hygiene became a heightened concern, rapid advancements in toilet technology ensued. In the 19th century, large cities in Europe started installing modern flushing public toilets.

George Jennings, the sanitary engineer, introduced public toilets, which he called "monkey closets", to the Crystal Palace for The Great Exhibition of 1851. Public toilets were also known as "retiring rooms."{{cite web |title=Retiring room |url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/retiring_room |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161025172843/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/retiring_room |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 25, 2016 |access-date=24 October 2011 |website=Oxford Dictionary}} They included separate amenities for men and women, and were the first flush toilet facilities to introduce sex-separation to the activity.{{Cite journal |last=Penner26-30 |first=Barbara |date=2013 |title="The First Public Toilet?: Rose Street, Soho" |url=https://doi.org/10.1353/vcr.2013.0011 |journal=Victorian Review |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=26–30|doi=10.1353/vcr.2013.0011 |s2cid=161265931 }} The next year, London's first public toilet facility was opened.{{Cite web |title=Tales of the toilet: a historical A–Z |url=https://www.historyextra.com/period/general-history/toilet-history-facts-thomas-crapper-spend-penny-romans/ |access-date=2022-04-11 |website=www.historyextra.com |language=en}}

File:Lavatory2.jpg, the first and most luxurious underground public toilet in France]]

Underground public toilets were introduced in the United Kingdom in the Victorian era, in built-up urban areas where no space was available to provide them above ground. The facilities were accessible by stairs, and lit by glass brick on the pavement. Local health boards often built underground public toilets to a high standard, although provisions were higher for men than women. Most have been closed as they did not have disabled access, and were more prone to vandalism and sexual encounters, especially in the absence of an attendant. A few remain in London, but others have been converted into alternative uses such as cafes, bars and even dwellings. In Paris, underground public toilets were introduced in 1905 with the Lavatory Madeleine, which is preserved as a Monument historique.{{cite web |author= |date= 2011|title= Lavatory Madeleine|url= https://pop.culture.gouv.fr/notice/merimee/PA75080008|website= POP : la plateforme ouverte du patrimoine|location= |publisher= Ministry of Culture (France)|language=French|access-date=9 April 2024}}

In the early days of the colony of Hong Kong, people would go to the toilet in sewers, barrels or in alleys. Once Hong Kong opened up for trade (1856–1880), the British Hong Kong government determined that the appalling hygiene situation in Hong Kong was becoming critical. Thus, the government set up public toilets (squat toilets) for people in 1867. But these toilets needed to be cleaned and emptied manually every day and were not popular.{{Cite news |title=Apple Daily toilet |language=zh |url=https://hk.lifestyle.appledaily.com/lifestyle/special/daily/article/20180306/20323047 |access-date=6 March 2018 }}{{Dead link|date=October 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}{{Cite web |title=Hong Kong toilet revolution |url=https://www.symedialab.com/talk/%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF%E5%BB%81%E6%89%80%E9%9D%A9%E5%91%BD/ |access-date=17 December 2018 |language=zh}} In 1894, plague broke out in Hong Kong and 2,500 people died, especially public toilet cleaners. The government decided to act, setting up underground toilet facilities to improve this situation, though these toilets also had to be cleaned and emptied manually.

Early in 1940, the colonial government built the first public flush toilet. In 1953, a fire broke out in Shek Kip Mei. After that, the government embarked on a major public housing project in Hong Kong including public toilets for residents. More than ten people shared each toilet and they used them for bathing, doing their laundry as well as going to the toilet.{{Cite news |title=Apple Daily Shek Kip Mei was fire |url=https://hk.news.appledaily.com/local/realtime/article/20131226/52020137 |access-date=26 December 2013}} Finally, in the 1970s, the government decided that one toilet for four or five families was insufficient and renovated all public housing providing separate flush pedestal toilets for all residents.{{Cite web |title=Hong Kong Housing Authority |url=https://www.housingauthority.gov.hk/hdw/b5/aboutus/events/community/heritage/about.html |access-date=7 March 2019}}

In the United States, concerns over public health and sanitation spurred the sanitarian movement during the late 1800s.Kogan, Terry S. "Sex-Separation in Public Restrooms: Law, Architecture, and Gender." Michigan Journal of Gender & Law; Ann Arbor 14.1 (2007): 1–57. Print.

Reforms to standardize plumbing codes and household plumbing were advocated for; the intersection of advancements in technology and desire for cleanliness and disease-free spaces spurred the development of public toilets.

Facilities for women sometimes had a wider emphasis, providing a safe and comfortable private space in the public sphere. The Ladies Rest Room is one example of the non-euphemistic use of the term: literally, a place to rest. Historically such rooms pre-dated the washroom and washrooms were added afterwards. Subsequent integrated designs resulted in the "women's restroom lounge".{{cite news |last1=Yuko |first1=Elizabeth |date=3 December 2018 |title=The Glamorous, Sexist History of the Women's Restroom Lounge |work=Citylab |url=https://www.citylab.com/design/2018/12/history-womens-bathroom-design-lounge/576742/ |access-date=3 December 2018}}

A notable early example of a public toilet in the United States is the Old School Privy. The American architect Frank Lloyd Wright claimed to have "invented the hung wall for the w.c. (easier to clean under)" when he designed the Larkin Administration Building in Buffalo, New York in 1904.

According to a 2021 study by [https://www.qssupplies.co.uk/the-public-toilet-index.html QS Supplies], the United States has just 8 public toilets for every 100,000 people, a rate that ties the country with Botswana in terms of access to toilet facilities. In the 1970s there were 50,000 coin-operated public restrooms in the U.S., but they were eliminated by 1980, and public facilities did not replace them.{{cite news |last=Yuko |first=Elizabeth |date=2021-11-05 |title=Where Did All the Public Bathrooms Go? |work=Bloomberg News |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-11-05/why-american-cities-lost-their-public-bathrooms |accessdate=2021-11-08}}

During the apartheid years in South Africa, public toilets were usually segregated by race.{{cite news |date=15 October 1990 |title=S. Africa Abolishes 1953 Law Segregating Public Amenities |work=Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-10-15-mn-2048-story.html |url-status=live |access-date=29 August 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121016230012/http://articles.latimes.com/1990-10-15/news/mn-2048_1_public-amenities |archive-date=16 October 2012}}

In Brazil, there exists no federal law or regulation that makes public toilets provision compulsory. The lack of public toilets across Brazil results in frequent acts of public urination.{{cite journal |last1=Deister Moreira |first1=Fernanda |last2=Rezende; Fabiana Passos |first2=Sonaly |title=Public toilets from the perspective of users: a case study in a public place, Brazil |journal=J Water Health |date=2022 |pages=41–53}}

Massachusetts passed the first law requiring sex separation of public toilets in 1887.{{Cite book |last=Kogan |first=Terry |title=Toilet: public restrooms and the politics of sharing |publisher=NYU Press |year=2010 |isbn=9780814795880 |editor1-last=Molotch |editor1-first=Harvey |location=New York |pages=145–164 |chapter=Sex Separation |editor2-last=Norén |editor2-first=Laura |chapter-url=https://collections.lib.utah.edu/details?id=729717}} By 1920, this was mandated in 43 states.

In jurisdictions using the Uniform Plumbing Code in the U.S., sex separation is a legal mandate via the building code.{{cite journal |date=2009 |title=2009 UNIFORM PLUMBING CODE, 412.3 |url=https://law.resource.org/pub/us/code/ibr/iapmo.upc.2009.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=Uniform Plumbing Code |location=Ontario, California |publisher=International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials |page=34 |issn=0733-2335 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140811230633/https://law.resource.org/pub/us/code/ibr/iapmo.upc.2009.pdf |archive-date=2014-08-11 |access-date=2014-04-11}}

{{Further|Workers' right to access the toilet}}

Various countries have legislation stipulating how many public toilets are required in a given area for employees or for customers.

The Restroom Access Act is legislation several U.S. States passed that requires retail establishments with toilet facilities for employees to also allow customers to use the facilities if the customer suffers from an inflammatory bowel disease or other medical condition requiring immediate access to a toilet.

In the United Kingdom, the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 requires businesses to provide toilets for their employees, along with washing facilities including soap or other suitable means of cleaning.{{cite web |title=The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 |url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1992/3004/contents/made/data.htm |website=www.legislation.gov.uk}} The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Approved Code of Practice and Guidance L24, available from Health and Safety Executive Books, outlines guidance on the number of toilets to provide and the type of washing facilities associated with them.{{Cite web |title=Health and Safety Executive Books |url=http://www.hsebooks.co.uk/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150512005700/http://www.hsebooks.co.uk/ |archive-date=2015-05-12 |access-date=2018-12-01}}

Local authorities are not legally required to provide public toilets, and while in 2008 the House of Commons Communities and Local Government Committee called for a duty on local authorities to develop a public toilet strategy,{{cite web |title=The Provision Of Public Toilets |url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200708/cmselect/cmcomloc/636/636.pdf |access-date=20 January 2014 |publisher=House of Commons}} the Government rejected the proposal.{{cite web |title=Government Response to Public Toilet Provision |url=http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm75/7530/7530.pdf |access-date=20 January 2014 |publisher=www.gov.uk}}

In 2022 the UK Government Equality Minister Kemi Badenoch announced plans to make provision of single-sex toilets compulsory in new public buildings above a certain size.{{Cite web |date=2022-07-03 |title=UK ministers to make single-sex toilets compulsory in new public buildings |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/03/single-sex-toilets-to-be-compulsory-in-all-new-public-buildings |access-date=2022-07-17 |website=the Guardian |language=en}} The technical review consultation on increasing accessibility and provision of toilets for men and women in municipal and private sector locations outlined the context in a call for evidence to be submitted:

{{blockquote|There needs to be proper provision of gender-specific toilets for both men and women, with a clear steer in building standards guidance. In recent years, there has been a trend towards the removal of well-established male-only/female-only spaces when premises are built or refurbished, and they have often been replaced with gender-neutral toilets. This places women at a significant disadvantage. While men can then use both cubicles and urinals, women can only use the former, and women also need safe spaces given their particular health and sanitary needs (for example, women who are menstruating, pregnant or at menopause, may need to use the toilet more often). Women are also likely to feel less comfortable using mixed sex facilities, and require more space.{{Cite web |title=Toilet provision for men and women: call for evidence |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/toilet-provision-for-men-and-women-call-for-evidence/toilet-provision-for-men-and-women-call-for-evidence |access-date=2022-07-17 |website=GOV.UK |language=en}}}}

The presence or absence of public toilets has also long been a reflection of a society's class inequalities and social hierarchies.{{cite encyclopedia |title=The Restroom Revolution: Unisex toilets and campus politics |encyclopedia=Toilet: Public Restrooms and the Politics of Sharing |publisher=New York University Press |location=New York City |url=http://people.umass.edu/olga/MyArticles/Gershenson_Restroom-Revolution_chapter.pdf |date=2010 |editor1-last=Molotch |editor1-first=Harvey |isbn=978-0-8147-6120-5 |last1=Gershenson |first1=Olga |editor2-first=Laura |editor2-last=Norén}}

In the UK the number of public toilets fell by nearly 20% from 3,154 in 2015/16 to 2,556 in 2020/21{{Cite web |date=2021-11-14 |title=Skip to the loo? Easier said than done as Britain loses hundreds of public toilets |url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/nov/14/skip-to-the-loo-easier-said-than-done-as-britain-loses-hundreds-of-public-toilets |access-date=2021-12-01 |website=the Guardian |language=en}} This loss leads to health and mobility inequality issues for a range of people, including the homeless, disabled, outdoor workers and those whose illnesses mean that they frequently need to access a toilet. The decline of the great British public toilet is described by the Royal Society for Public Health as creating a “urinary leash” which restricts how far people can travel out from their homes.{{Cite web |last=RSPH |title=Taking the P*** |url=https://www.rsph.org.uk/our-work/policy/healthy-places/taking-the-p.html |access-date=2021-12-01 |website=www.rsph.org.uk}}{{Cite web |date=2021-12-01 |title=The urinary leash: how the death of public toilets traps and trammels us all |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/dec/01/the-urinary-leash-how-the-death-of-public-toilets-traps-and-trammels-us-all |access-date=2021-12-01 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}

File:L-toilet4.png, London, 1904. The male facilities (left) comprise 12 cubicles and 13 urinals, whereas the female facilities (right) comprise just 5 cubicles.]]

{{further|Potty parity}}

The lack of public toilets for females reflects their exclusion from the public sphere in the Victorian era. During this period, after leaving their parents' home, women were expected to maintain careers as homemakers and wives. Thus, safe and private public toilets were rarely available for women. The result was that they were often restricted in how far they could travel away from home without returning. Alternatively, they had to make do in the public streets as best they could. They often experienced sexual harassment as men tried to "sneak a peek" or otherwise bothered them.{{cite journal |last=Carter |first=W. Burlette |year=2018 |title=Sexism in the 'Bathroom Debates': How Bathrooms Really Became Separated By Sex |journal=Yale Law & Policy Review |volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=227–297 |ssrn=3311184}}{{rp|253–54, 290}} Some females experienced even worse if they could not secure safety and privacy even at home or in their workplaces. These problems continue for women and girls in all parts of the world.

The practice of pay toilets emerged in the US in the late 19th century. In these spaces, public toilets could only be accessed by paying a fee. Sex-separated pay toilets were available at the Chicago World's Fair (US) in 1893.{{rp|253}} Females complained that these were practically unavailable to them; authorities allowed them to be free, but on Fridays only.{{rp|253}} In the twentieth century, activist groups in the U.S., including the Committee to End Pay Toilets in America, claimed that such practices disadvantaged women and girls because men and boys did not have to pay for urinals.{{cite news |last=Gordon |first=Aaron |date=June 14, 2017 |title=Why Don't We Have Pay Toilets in America |work=Pacific Standard Magazine |url=https://psmag.com/economics/dont-pay-toilets-america-bathroom-restroom-free-market-90683}} As an act of protest against this phenomenon, in 1969 California Assemblywoman March Fong Eu destroyed a toilet on the steps of the California State Capitol.{{cite web |date=31 August 2016 |title=Social inclusion, toilet rights, and legal protection for transgender Americans |url=http://www.phlush.org/2016/08/31/social-inclusion-toilet-rights-and-legal-protection-for-transgender-americans/ |access-date=March 4, 2017}} By the 1990s most US jurisdictions had migrated away from pay toilets. Until 1992, U.S. female senators had to use toilets located on different floor levels than the ones they were working on, a reflection of their intrusion in an all-male profession.{{cite journal |last=Plaskow |first=Judith |date=July 8, 2008 |title=Embodiment, Elimination, and the Role of Toilets in Struggles for Social Justice |journal=Cross Currents |volume=58 |issue=1 |pages=51–64 |doi=10.1111/j.1939-3881.2008.00004.x|s2cid=143489360 }}

While some public facilities were available to females in London by 1890, there were many fewer than those available to males.Penner, Barbara. Bathroom. Reaktion Books, 2013.{{rp|69}}

Toilets also were assigned strong moral overtones. While public water closets were considered necessary for sanitation reasons, they were viewed as offending public sensibilities. It has been said that because public facilities were associated with access to public spaces, extending these rights to women was viewed as "immoral" and an "abomination".Greed, Clara. Inclusive Urban Design: Public Toilets. Routledge, 2007. As a result of Victorian era codes, women were delegated to the private sphere, away from the public, fulfilling their roles as dutiful wives and mothers where any association with sexuality or private body parts was taboo. For women, the female lavatory in a public space was associated with danger and immoral sexual conduct.{{cite journal |last=Nirta |first=Caterina |date=August 3, 2014 |title=Trans Subjectivity and the Spatial Monolingualism of Public Toilets |journal=Law and Critique |language=en |volume=25 |issue=3 |pages=271–288 |doi=10.1007/s10978-014-9141-9 |issn=0957-8536 |s2cid=145198888}}

According to World Bank data from 2017, over 500 million females lacked access to sanitation facilities{{Cite web |title=Lack of access to a toilet and handwashing materials hits women and girls hardest, especially when menstruating |url=https://blogs.worldbank.org/water/lack-access-toilet-and-handwashing-materials-hits-women-and-girls-hardest-especially-when |access-date=2021-12-01 |website=blogs.worldbank.org |date=14 April 2017 |language=en}} to go to the bathroom or manage menstrual hygiene. Risk of sexual assault is high, in India as high as 50%.{{Cite web |date=2019-11-14 |title=The unexpected link between access to toilets and women's rights |url=https://ideas4development.org/en/unexpected-link-access-toilets-womens-rights/ |access-date=2021-12-01 |website=ID4D |language=en}} Amnesty International includes sex-separated toilets among its list of suggested measures to ensure the safety of women and girls in schools.{{cite web |date=November 2007 |title=Six steps to stop violence against schoolgirls, Document ACT 77/008/2007 |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ACT77/023/2007/en |access-date=2009-02-27 |publisher=Amnesty International}}

In many places the queues for the female toilets are longer than those for the males; efforts to deal with this are known as potty parity. It has been estimated that females can take up to 50% longer in the toilet.{{Cite web |last=O'Dwyer |first=Lisel |title=Why queues for women's toilets are longer than men's |url=http://theconversation.com/why-queues-for-womens-toilets-are-longer-than-mens-99763 |access-date=2021-12-30 |website=The Conversation |date=23 August 2018 |language=en}} The reasons given include the requirement to use a cubicle rather than a urinal, pregnancy, managing menstruation, health conditions (such as cystitis), clothing design, and helping others.{{Cite web |last=Jones |first=Nicole Raucheisen, Benji |title=Why women wait longer for the bathroom than men |url=https://www.insider.com/why-women-always-wait-longer-bathroom-public-restroom-2019-9 |access-date=2021-12-30 |website=Insider |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=BBC Arts - Hay Festival, 2019 - It really is a man's world: How everyday design excludes women |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1rcgjxPKJRGrZcTsX2hHwTj/it-really-is-a-mans-world-how-everyday-design-excludes-women |access-date=2021-12-30 |website=BBC |language=en-GB}} Women are more likely to be accompanied by very young children, disabled, or older people.

After slavery ended in the United States, southern states attempted to replicate social economic oppression by passing laws requiring that blacks and whites be separated in all public and private venues. Racial segregation included public toilets, mandated by Jim Crow laws prior to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Justifications provided for segregated facilities included "protection of a certain group, privacy, cleanliness, and morality.”{{Cite journal |last=Griffin |first=C.J. |date=2009 |title=Workplace restroom policies in light of New Jersey's gender identity protection |url=http://rutgerslawreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Workplace-Restroom-Policies-in-Light-of-New-Jerseys-Gender-Identity-Protection.pdf |journal=Rutgers Law Review |volume=61 |issue=2 |pages=409–436}} This segregation imposed significant restrictions on the lives of African-Americans.Published in The Public Historian, ed. Randolph Bergstrom, Volume 27, Issue 4, Fall 2005, pages 11-44. Weyeneth, R. R. (2005). The architecture of racial segregation: The challenges of preserving the problematic past. The Public Historian, 27(4), 11-44. DOI: 10.1525/tph.2005.27.4.11 [http://scholarcommons.sc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1198&context=hist_facpub] Strategies to keep African-Americans out of sight included the "basement solution," which involved locating public toilets for black people in the basement next to janitor supply rooms.{{cite journal |last=Weyeneth |first=Robert R. |date=2005 |title=The Architecture of Racial Segregation: The Challenges of Preserving the Problematical Past. |url=https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/hist_facpub/201 |journal=The Public Historian |volume=27 |issue=4 |pages=11–44 |doi=10.1525/tph.2005.27.4.11}} Black workers often had to walk long distances to get to the toilets they were assigned.{{cite book |last1=Yellin |first1=Eric S. |title=Racism in the Nation's Service: Government Workers and the Color Line in Woodrow Wilson's America |publisher=University of North Carolina |isbn=9781469608020 |pages=117, 119}}

Those who were able to afford cars could avoid the indignities of segregated trains and buses, but they faced the difficulty of finding a public toilet they were allowed to use. Courtland Milloy of the Washington Post recalled that on cross-country road trips in the 1950s his parents were reluctant to stop the car to allow the children to relieve themselves – it just was not safe.{{cite news |last=Milloy |first=Courtland |date=June 21, 1987 |title=Black Highways: Thirty Years Ago We Didn't Dare Stop |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/24/AR2005062400510.html |access-date=October 24, 2016}} One solution to this was to carry a portable toilet (a sort of bucket-like arrangement) in the trunk of the car.{{cite web |last=Sugrue |first=Thomas J. |title=Driving While Black: The Car and Race Relations in Modern America |url=http://www.autolife.umd.umich.edu/Race/R_Casestudy/R_Casestudy.htm |access-date=October 24, 2016 |work=Automobile in American Life and Society |publisher=University of Michigan}} This treatment led to the creation of The Negro Motorist Green Book, an annually updated guidebook.{{cite book |last=Wright |first=Gavin |title=Sharing the Prize |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2013 |isbn=9780674076440 |pages=75–76 |ref=Wright}} Once the traveler found the correct "colored restroom", it could serve "as a respite from the insults of the white world", akin to what is now called safe space.{{cite book |last1=Molotch |first1=ed. by Harvey |title=Toilet. ; Public Restrooms and the Politics of Sharing. |last2=Norén |first2=Laura |date=2010 |publisher=New York University Press |isbn=978-0814795897 |location=New York}}

Following the 1941 executive order which prohibited “discrimination in the employment of workers in defence industries or government,” white women refused to share bathrooms with black women throughout the South.{{Cite web |last=Frank |first=Gillian |date=2015-11-10 |title=The Anti-Trans Bathroom Nightmare Has Its Roots in Racial Segregation |url=https://slate.com/human-interest/2015/11/anti-trans-bathroom-propaganda-has-roots-in-racial-segregation.html |access-date=2022-04-08 |website=Slate Magazine |language=en}} Engaging in numerous labor strikes and walkouts against Fair Employment Practice Committee politics, they erroneously claimed that racial integration would cause them to catch syphilis from toilet seats. Similar arguments equating equal access to restrooms with contracting venereal diseases were made by white women after the 1954 court ruling against segregated public schools which led to the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School.

Samuel Younge Jr., then a student at Tuskegee Institute, was murdered in 1966 after trying to use a "whites-only" restroom.{{cite web |author=Bourlin, Olga |title=Younge, Samuel ("Sammy") Leamon Jr. (1944–1966) |date=30 September 2014 |url=http://www.blackpast.org/aah/younge-samuel-sammy-leamon-jr-1944-1966 |access-date=7 March 2015 |publisher=BlackPast.org}} He was the first black college student to be killed for his actions supporting the Civil Rights Movement.{{cite press release |url=http://www.crmvet.org/docs/sncc50_sammy-younge.pdf |title=Murdered: Sammy Younge |publisher=Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) |date=4 January 1966 |access-date=7 March 2015}}{{cite web |last=Summerlin |first=Donnie |date=2 September 2008 |title=Samuel Younge Jr. |url=http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1669 |access-date=7 March 2015 |publisher=The Encyclopedia of Alabama}}

Public toilets have frequently been inaccessible to people with disabilities. In the United States, all public toilets in federal buildings were required to be accessible to people with disabilities by the Architectural Barriers Act of 1968.{{Cite web |date=2016-05-17 |title=A history of bathroom battles in the U.S.: Racism, sexism, transphobia |url=https://www.pennlive.com/news/2016/05/bathrooms_culture_wars_front_l.html |access-date=2022-04-11 |website=pennlive |language=en}} These requirements were extended to all public buildings by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

Access to public toilets for transgender and gender non-conforming people is often contested. In the United States, various bathroom bills have been put forward to define who can have public toilet access, and on what terms. Many of these bills seek to criminalize usage by people whose gender identity does not match the sex on their birth certificates.{{Cite web |last=Lopez |first=German |date=2016-04-07 |title=Tennessee is a few steps away from passing an anti-transgender bathroom bill |url=https://www.vox.com/2016/4/7/11381400/tennessee-transgender-bathroom-bill |access-date=2022-04-08 |website=Vox |language=en}}

A variety of reasons have been put forward for these measures, including protecting the privacy of females, avoidance of retraumatization in females affected by male violence, and to protect females from being assaulted by males donning disguises, although there is no evidence of the latter ever having occurred in the past.{{Cite web |title=Statistics Show Exactly How Many Times Trans People Have Attacked You in Bathrooms |url=https://www.mic.com/articles/114066/statistics-show-exactly-how-many-times-trans-people-have-attacked-you-in-bathrooms |access-date=2022-04-08 |website=Mic |date=2 April 2015 |language=en}}{{cite news |last1=Maza |first1=Carlos |title=Debunking The Big Myth About Transgender-Inclusive Bathrooms |agency=Media Matters for America |url=http://mediamatters.org/blog/2014/03/20/debunking-the-big-myth-about-transgender-inclus/198530 |url-status=live |access-date=2015-04-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150331045813/http://mediamatters.org/blog/2014/03/20/debunking-the-big-myth-about-transgender-inclus/198530 |archive-date=2015-03-31}}{{Cite web |date=2016-04-12 |title=Stop Using Women's Safety To Justify Transphobia |url=http://www.rolereboot.org/culture-and-politics/details/2016-04-stop-using-womens-safety-justify-transphobia/./culture-and-politics/details/2016-04-stop-using-womens-safety-justify-transphobia/ |access-date=2022-04-08 |website=Role Reboot |language=en-US}} The UK's Equality and Human Rights Commission published guidance in 2022 outlining scenarios where it considered exclusion of transgender people from single-sex spaces to be justifiable and proportionate.{{Cite web | title= Trans people can be excluded from single-sex services if 'justifiable', says EHRC | url= https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/apr/04/trans-people-can-be-excluded-single-sex-services-if-justifiable-says-ehrc }} While transgender public toilet usage has been labelled as a moral panic, the ongoing discourse continues to have significant impacts on this group.{{cite web |last=Wheeling |first=Kate |date=August 4, 2017 |title=Stalled Out: How Social Bias is Segregating America's Bathrooms |url=https://psmag.com/magazine/how-social-bias-is-segregating-americas-bathrooms |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170818175453/https://psmag.com/magazine/how-social-bias-is-segregating-americas-bathrooms |archive-date=August 18, 2017 |access-date=August 18, 2017 |df=mdy-all}}

Public toilets play a role in community health and individual well-being. Where toilets are available, people can enjoy outings and physical activities in their communities. By letting people get out of their cars and onto their feet, bicycles and mass transit, public toilets can contribute to improved environmental health. Mental well-being is enhanced when people are out with families and friends and know a place "to go" is available.

Public toilets also serve people who are "toilet challenged". First, some people need to go very frequently, including young and old people, people who are pregnant or menstruating, and those with some medical conditions. Second, some people need toilet access urgently, suddenly and without warning: such as those with chronic conditions such as Crohn's disease and colitis, and those temporarily afflicted with food-borne illnesses.

The inability to satisfy essential physiological needs because no toilet is available contributes to health issues such as urinary tract infections, kidney infections, and digestive problems, which can later develop into severe health problems."Give us a (Loo) break!" (8 March 2010) Trade Union Congress https://www.tuc.org.uk Inadequate access to a public toilets when required can lead to substantial problems for people with prostate problems, people who are menstruating or going through the menopause, and people with urinary and fecal incontinence.

A 2015 study by the National Center for Transgender Equality found that 8% of transgender Americans reported having developed urinary tract infections, kidney infections, and other kidney-related problems as a result of avoiding, or not being granted access to, the facilities.{{Cite web |title=USTS Reports |url=https://www.ustranssurvey.org/reports |access-date=2022-04-08 |website=2022 U.S. Trans Survey |language=en-US}} In another survey, the group DC Trans Coalition found that 54% of its respondents (located in Washington, DC) reported physical problems from avoiding using public toilets, such as dehydration, kidney infections, and urinary tract infections.{{cite journal |last1=Herman |first1=Jody L |date=Spring 2013 |title=Gendered Restrooms and Minority Stress: The Public Regulation of Gender and its Impact on Transgender People's Lives |journal=Journal of Public Management & Social Policy |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=65–80 |id={{ProQuest|1439085659}}}}

According to the Government of Australia, more than 3.8 million Australians of all ages are estimated to suffer continence issues.{{cite web |year=2006 |title=About the National Toilet Map |url=http://www.toiletmap.gov.au/staticpage.aspx?page=about |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060212012630/http://www.toiletmap.gov.au/staticpage.aspx?page=about |archive-date=2006-02-12 |access-date=2006-04-14 |work=The National Toilet Map |publisher=Australian Government: Department of Health and Ageing}} This represents 18% of the Australian population. Therefore, the Department of Health and Ageing maintains the National Public Toilet Map to enable the public to find the closest facility.

Workers have legal rights to access a toilet during their work day. In the United States, the Department of Labor's Occupational Health and Safety protects workers' rights to toilet breaks because of the documented health risks.{{Cite web|url=https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=interpretations&p_id=22932|title=Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Standard Number: 1910.141(c)(1)(i)|website=United States Department of Labor|access-date=28 April 2017}} This protected right to a toilet is a function of the workplace and is lost when workers leave the workplace.US Public Health Mandates and the Restroom Problem in America, American Restroom Association, World Toilet Summit, Delhi, November 1, 2007

If bus and truck drivers on timed schedules have difficulty in accessing toilets, this puts them at risk of bladder and digestive health problems. Furthermore, if the concentration of a driver in urgent need is compromised, it becomes a broader public safety concern.

File:Public toilet in J.S.Rode City Park in Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland.jpg, Poland]]

Modern public toilets may be designed with a labyrinth entrance (doorless entry), which prevents the spread of disease that might otherwise occur when coming in contact with a door. Doorless entry provides visual privacy while simultaneously offering a measure of security by allowing the passage of sound. Doorless entry also helps deter vandalism; fewer audible clues to another person entering discourages some vandals. Doorless entry may also be achieved simply by keeping an existing door propped open, closed only when necessary.

Pay toilets usually have some form of coin operated turnstile, or they have an attendant who collects the fee.

People often expect a high level of privacy when using public toilets. Privacy expectations may include toilet cubicles, cubicle doors, urinal partitions and similar.

The World Health Organization states that toilets should be "suitable, private and safe to use for all intended users, taking into consideration their gender, age and physical mobility (e.g. disabled, sick etc.)" and "All shared or public toilets should have [...] doors that can be locked from the inside, and lights".WHO (2018). [https://www.susana.org/en/knowledge-hub/resources-and-publications/library/details/3447 Guidelines on Sanitation and Health]. Geneva: World Health Organization, {{ISBN|978-92-4-151470-5}}

Modern public toilets often have a service entrance, utilities passage, and the like, that run behind all the fixtures. Sensors are installed in a separate room, behind the fixtures. Usually, the separate room is just a narrow corridor or passageway.

Sensor-operated fixtures (faucets, soap dispensers, hand dryers, paper towel dispensers) prevent the spread of disease by allowing patrons to circumvent the need to touch common surfaces. Sensor-operated toilets also help conserve water by limiting the amount used per flush, and require less routine maintenance. Each sensor views through a small window into each fixture. Sometimes the metal plates that house the sensor windows are bolted on from behind, to prevent tampering. Additionally, all of the electrical equipment is safely behind the walls, so that there is no danger of electric shock. However, a residual-current device must be used for all such electrical equipment.

Some public toilets have an automatic sensor-controlled flushing system that flushes the toilet when the user steps away from the sensor. They might also have an additional button that the user can push to provide a second flush.

File:Finnish_airport_urinals_(42006370752).jpg

File:Sensor-operated-urinals1377p.jpg

File:Urinal 3.jpg

{{Main|Urinal|Female urinal}}

Urinals for males are common in public toilets as they are more space efficient than toilets (for urination). Urinals in public toilets are common in Western countries but less so in Muslim countries, partly due to Islamic toilet etiquette rules. Urinals for women exist but are rare. Urinals can be with automatic or manual flushing, or without flush water as is the case for waterless urinals. They can be arranged as single sanitary fixtures (with or without privacy walls) or in a trough design without privacy walls. The body posture for users of urinals is specifically the standing position. Compared with urination in a general-purpose toilet, usage is faster and more sanitary because at the urinal there are no fecal germs, no additional doors or locks to touch, and no seat to turn up. A urinal takes less space, is simpler, and consumes less water per flush (or even no water at all) than a flush toilet. Urinal setups can have individual urinals (with or without privacy partitions) or a communal urinal (also called a trough urinal) which is used by multiple men.

File:Bowling alley restroom.jpg

Service lighting consisting of windows that run all the way around the outside of the toilet using electric lights behind the windows, to create the illusion of extensive natural light, even when the toilets are underground or otherwise do not have access to natural light. The windows are sometimes made of glass brick, permanently cemented in place. Lighting installed in service tunnels that run around the outside of the toilets provides optimum safety from electrical shock (keeping the lights outside the toilet), hygiene (no cracks or openings), security (no way for vandals to access the light bulbs), and aesthetics (clean architectural lines that maintain a continuity of whatever aesthetic design is present, e.g., the raw industrial urban aesthetic that works well with glass brick).

Older toilets infrequently have service ducts, and often in old toilets that have been modernized, the toilet cistern is hidden in a tiled over purpose-built 'box'. Often old toilets still have high-level cisterns in the service ducts. On the outside, the toilet is flushed by a handle (just like an ordinary low-level cistern toilet) although behind the wall this handle activates a chain. Sometimes a long flushing trough is used to allow closets to be flushed repeatedly without waiting for the cistern to refill. This trend of hiding cisterns and fittings behind the walls started in the late 1930s in the United States and in the United Kingdom from the 1950s, and by the late 1960s it was unusual for toilet cisterns to be visible in public toilets. In some buildings such as schools, however, a cistern can still be visible, although high-level cisterns had become outdated by the 1970s. Many schools now have low-level cisterns.

{{Further|Hand dryer}}

An option for hand drying is usually provided next to the sink. This can be either a paper towel dispenser (sometimes they have auto-sensors for touchless dispensing) or a mechanical hand dryer (used manually or with auto-sensors). Drying of washed hands is important for convenience but also because wet hands are more easily recontaminated.{{Cite web|date=2020-03-04|title=Show Me the Science – How to Wash Your Hands|url=https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/show-me-the-science-handwashing.html|access-date=2020-03-06|website=Centers for Disease Control and Prevention|language=en-us}} Paper towels are more hygienic than electric air dryers.{{Cite journal |last1=Huang |first1=Cunrui |last2=Ma |first2=Wenjun |last3=Stack |first3=Susan |date=1 August 2012 |title=The Hygienic Efficacy of Different Hand-Drying Methods: A Review of the Evidence |journal=Mayo Clinic Proceedings |language=en |volume=87 |issue=8 |pages=791–798 |doi=10.1016/j.mayocp.2012.02.019 |pmc=3538484 |pmid=22656243 |doi-access=free}}

Public toilets by their nature see heavy usage. Some high-vandalism settings, such as beaches or stadiums, will use metal toilets. Public toilets generally contain several of the following fixtures.

File:Toilet Seat Cover.jpg

• Toilet cubicle door
• Toilet with toilet seat; whereas a home toilet seat has a lid, a public toilet may or may not, and may not even have a seat
• Toilet paper, often within a lockable dispenser
• Coat hook
• "Pull-down" purse holder
• sanitary protection bin for menstrual products; this may be classified as clinical waste and be subject to special regulations concerning disposal
• Dispenser for flushable paper toilet seat covers
• Toilet cubicle door lock sign. The toilet cubicle door lock signs are indicated in either colour: Vacant is marked in green, while Engaged is marked in red

• Faucets (taps); some are at a lower level for children and wheelchair users
• Antiseptic hand-wash dispenser or soap dispensers, pump bottles or auto dispensers (not commonly supplied)
• Mirror (usually over sinks)
• Waste container / rubbish bin

File:Koala Kare changing table open.JPG

• Urinals (almost exclusively in public toilets for males; although see female urinal)
• Vending machines dispensing condoms, diapers (nappies), painkillers, energy drinks, perfume, breath mints, facial tissue, confectionery, undergarments, swimwear, soap, sex toys, or sanitary napkins or tampons
• Air fresheners or odour control systems
• Infant changing table, often fold-down (usually in women's rooms, but increasingly also in men's rooms). They are sometimes placed within a, usually large, toilet cubicle.{{cite web|title=Should men's restrooms have diaper changing tables? New bill says yes|date=25 June 2014|url=http://fox13now.com/2014/06/25/should-mens-restrooms-have-diaper-changing-tables-new-bill-says-yes/|access-date=6 July 2014}}
• Sometimes showers are also present, often with soap, shampoo, or similar dispensers (often at truck stops)

Thorough cleaning and maintenance are important for public toilets. This task is usually performed by a "public toilet attendant" (who is there during an entire shift) or by professional cleaning staff. They maintain and clean the facilities, ensuring that toilet paper, soap, paper towels, and other necessary items are kept stocked.

Public toilets need both periodic maintenance and emergency cleaning.PHLUSH (2015) [https://toolkit.phlush.org/ Public Toilet Advocacy Toolkit], Part 1: Strategy Tools, Section 4: Plan for Operational and Financial Sustainability, also available in [https://www.susana.org/en/knowledge-hub/resources-and-publications/library/details/2450 SuSanA library] Volunteer-managed facilities may also be an option in some cases.

There are now durable options for restroom stall materials such as solid plastic that were designed to help fight vandalism. Solid plastic allows for scratches to be less noticeable due to the solid color throughout the product compared to powder coated steel. Powder coated steel chips easily lead to obvious damage compared with solid plastic. Solid plastic is also easier to clean and maintain in public restrooms with high traffic volumes.

{{Main|Pay toilet}}

File:Paris-France-Pay-Toilet.jpg, a freestanding, free toilet stall in Paris.(formerly coin-operated)]]

Toilets that require the user to pay may be street furniture or be inside a building, e.g. a shopping mall, department store, or railway station. The reason for charging money is usually for the maintenance of the equipment. Paying to use a toilet can be traced back almost 2,000 years — the Roman emperor Vespasian is believed to have begun charging his citizens to use toilet facilities {{circa}} 74 AD.{{cite web |url=https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/649324/pay-toilet-history |title=Pay-Per-Poop: A History of Pay Toilets |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240630135911/https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/649324/pay-toilet-history |archive-date=June 30, 2024 |url-status=live |first=Ken |last=Ossea |date=August 13, 2021 |access-date=July 4, 2024 |work=Mental Floss |publisher=Minute Media}}{{cite web |url=https://daily.jstor.org/the-rise-and-fall-of-pay-toilets/ |title=The Rise and Fall of Pay Toilets |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240303090236/https://daily.jstor.org/the-rise-and-fall-of-pay-toilets/ |archive-date=March 3, 2024 |url-status=live |first=Liz |last=Tracey |date=December 8, 2016 |access-date=July 4, 2024 |work=JSTOR Daily}} The payment may be taken by a bathroom attendant, or by a coin-operated turnstile or cubicle door. (see John Nevil Maskelyne, who invented a door lock requiring the insertion of a penny coin, hence the euphemism to "spend a penny"{{cite book|

first=Peter|last=Lamont|author-link=Peter Lamont (historian)|year=2004|title=The Rise of the Indian Rope Trick, (The Biography of a Legend)|edition=1|publisher=Time Warner Books|isbn=0-316-72430-0}}) The first pay toilet in the United States was installed in 1910 in Terre Haute, Indiana.{{cite news |last=Gruenstein |first=Peter |date=September 4, 1975 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=D-ItAAAAIBAJ&sjid=adsFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6097,877500 |title=Pay toilet movement attacks capitalism |newspaper=The Beaver County Times |access-date=October 19, 2010 |via=Google News}}

{{Main|Privatization of public toilets}}

In some places, the provision of public toilet facilities is under great pressure.[Public toilets 'wiped out in parts of UK']{{Cite web|url=http://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/03/the-smelly-snobbish-death-of-the-english-public-toilet/|title = The smelly, snobbish death of the public loo | the Spectator}} One response by public authorities is to close the buildings, often citing criminal activity.{{cite news|title=Council could close 'cottaging' toilets in Lincoln city centre|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-28614006|access-date=20 December 2016|agency=BBC|date=2 August 2014}}{{cite news|title=Public toilets face closure amid sordid sex sessions|url=http://www.loughboroughecho.net/news/local-news/public-toilets-face-closure-amid-5812411|access-date=20 December 2016|publisher=Loughborough Echo|date=4 March 2009}} The United Kingdom government austerity programme has led to major council cut-backs to public toilet provision, with knock-on effects on the public realm as a whole.{{cite web|url=https://www.redpepper.org.uk/inconvenienced-how-the-cuts-have-hit-public-toilets/|title=Inconvenienced: how the cuts have hit public toilets|last=Dunnico|first=David|date=1 June 2014|publisher=Red Pepper|access-date=3 May 2019}} Some of the buildings, particularly the underground ones, are sold and used for other purposes, e.g. as a bar.

Another response is to privatise the toilets, so that a public good is provided by a contractor,{{cite web|url=https://iea.org.uk/blog/lets-privatise-the-loos-yes-seriously|title=Let's privatise the loos. Yes, seriously.|date=31 May 2016|website=Institute of Economic Affairs}} just as private prisons are. The toilets may fall under the category of privately owned public space - anyone can use them, but the land ultimately belongs to the corporation in question. When toilets that have been privatised are improperly run, or closed, there may be calls to take them back into the control of the public authority.

{{Main|Unisex public toilet}}

File:Gender_neutral_toilet_sign_gu.jpg, Gothenburg, Sweden]]

Public toilets are often separated by sex. In many cultures, this separation is so characteristic that pictograms of a man or a woman often suffice to indicate the facility, without explicit reference to the fixtures themselves. In restaurants and other private locations, the identifications can be designed to match the decoration of the premises.{{cite news |last=Michael |first=Jane |author2=Michael Stern |date=1999-09-13 |title=Operators shouldn't get potty over bathroom symbols |publisher=Nation's Restaurant News |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3190/is_37_33/ai_55821064 |url-status=dead |access-date=2009-02-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080617194030/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3190/is_37_33/ai_55821064 |archive-date=2008-06-17}} Toilet facilities for people with disabilities, especially those reliant on a wheelchair, may be either gender-specific or unisex.[http://www.adeptsafetyonline.com.au/site/707884/page/871866 Toilet Signs] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120416022720/http://www.adeptsafetyonline.com.au/site/707884/page/871866 |date=2012-04-16 }} at Adept Safety Online (informative commercial site) Gender-neutral toilets are usual in cases where sex-separated ones are not practical, such as in aircraft lavatories and passenger train toilets.

In the 21st century, with support from the transgender rights movement, some initiatives have called for gender-neutral public toilets, also called unisex public toilets (also called gender-inclusive, or all-gender). These may be instead of, or in addition to, gendered toilets, depending on the circumstances.{{cite news |last1=La Ganga |first1=Maria L |date=30 March 2016 |title=From Jim Crow to transgender ban: the bathroom as battleground for civil rights |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/30/transgender-ban-bathrooms-north-carolina-civil-rights |access-date=24 October 2016}} Many groups are re-imagining what public toilets can look like; for instance, architect Joel Sanders, transgender historian Susan Stryker, and legal scholar Terry Kogan launched Stalled!, an open source website which offers lectures, workshops, and design guidelines for unisex public toilets.{{Cite web |title=Stalled! |url=https://www.stalled.online/ |access-date=2022-04-11 |website=Stalled! |language=en-US}}

In addition to accommodating transgender and gender non-conforming individuals, gender-neutral public toilets facilitate usage for people who may require assistance from a caretaker of another gender, such as people with disabilities, elderly people, and children.{{cite news |last=Devine |first=Shannon |date=2004-03-11 |title=Inclusive toilets |publisher=McGill Reporter |url=https://www.mcgill.ca/reporter/36/12/transgender/ |access-date=2009-02-27}}

An additional consideration with regard to gendered public restrooms is the availability of baby changing tables. Sometimes, these tables have only been installed in women's restrooms, owing to stereotypical assumptions that only women were likely to be accompanied by babies needing to have their diapers changed. This can be an impediment for fathers with their children and other male caregivers. Advocates have worked for changing tables to be installed in men's restrooms.{{cite web |last1=Navsaria |first1=Dipesh |date=7 June 2019 |title=Are changing tables in all public men's restrooms now? |url=https://www.healthychildren.org/English/tips-tools/ask-the-pediatrician/Pages/Are-changing-tables-in-all-public-mens-restrooms-now.aspx |access-date=29 July 2021 |website=HealthyChildren.org |publisher=American Academy of Pediatrics}} Unisex washrooms would provide access to either regardless.

File:GraffitiBatYam1.jpg, Israel]]

File:Graffiti tags 2.JPG

File:0 3060Kawakawa - Neuseeland - Hundertwassertoilette.jpg, seen as a tourist attraction in their own right]]

Public toilets have long been associated with graffiti, often of a transgressive, gossipy, or low-brow humorous nature (cf. toilet humour). The word latrinalia—from latrine (toilet) and -alia (a collection)—was coined to describe this kind of graffiti.{{cite web|last=Palazzolo|first=Rose|title=Latrinalia - Learning From the Scrawls in the Bathroom|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/story?id=1728528|publisher=ABC News|access-date=30 October 2013}} A famous example of such artwork was featured on the album cover of the satirical Tony Award Broadway musical Urinetown, using felt-tip pen scribblings.

As graffiti merged into street art, so some public street-level toilets began to make a feature of their visibility. The Hundertwasser toilet block is a colourful example in Kawakawa, New Zealand, designed by an Austrian artist and viewed as a tourist draw in a small town.

File:Anti-heroin_toilets.jpg use public toilet in the U.S. This toilet for supermarket customers uses very dim, blue lighting to deter heroin users from injecting. The blue gloom makes veins impossible to see.]]

Some public toilets are known for drug-taking and drug-selling, as well as vandalism. This type of criminal activity is associated with all "neglected, unsupervised buildings", not just toilets, and good cleanliness and maintenance, and ideally an attendant on the premises, can act as a protection against these problems.{{cite book|last1=Greed|first1=Clara|title=Inclusive Urban Design: Public Toilets|date=2007|publisher=Routledge|page=255}}

Violent crime inside public toilets can be a problem in areas where the rate of such crimes in general is very high. In South Africa, for instance, many people have reported being afraid to use public toilets.{{cite web|url=https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-november-15-2016-1.3850427/it-s-not-safe-south-africans-fear-using-public-toilets-after-woman-murdered-1.3850509|title='It's not safe': South Africans fear using public toilets after woman murdered - CBC Radio|date=November 15, 2016|website=CBC}} There have been several highly publicized murders in public toilets, such as the Seocho-dong public toilet murder case in South Korea in 2016. In the US, an infamous case was the murder of a 9-year-old boy in 1998 in a San Diego county public toilet.{{cite web|url=http://edition.cnn.com/US/9811/16/boy.killed.02/|title=CNN - Suspect arrested in case of boy killed in public bathroom - November 16, 1998|website=edition.cnn.com}}

Increasing public toilet provision can help to protect women from violent attacks.{{Cite news|last=Rigby|first=Jennifer|date=2019-06-10|title=How increasing the number of toilets can reduce violence against women|language=en-GB|work=The Telegraph|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/women-and-girls/increasing-number-toilets-can-reduce-violence-against-women/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/women-and-girls/increasing-number-toilets-can-reduce-violence-against-women/ |archive-date=2022-01-12 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=2021-12-30|issn=0307-1235}}{{cbignore}} Research studies have found increased risk of women and girls being raped where there is limited or no access to safe toilets at night.{{Cite web|last1=Gibbs|first1=Andrew|last2=Reddy|first2=Tarylee|title=Why access to decent toilets could help reduce sexual violence in South Africa|url=http://theconversation.com/why-access-to-decent-toilets-could-help-reduce-sexual-violence-in-south-africa-146150|access-date=2021-12-30|website=The Conversation|date=17 September 2020 |language=en}}{{Cite web|title=Creating safe and empowering public spaces with women and girls|url=https://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women/creating-safe-public-spaces|access-date=2021-12-30|website=UN Women|language=en}}{{Cite web|last=Tong|first=Traci|title=Afraid to use the toilet? These women are vulnerable to rape, attacks while in bathroom|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/11/30/lack-clean-and-safe-toilets-leaves-women-vulnerable-rape-and-attack/909462001/|access-date=2021-12-30|website=USA TODAY|language=en-US}}

Several billion people lack access to improved water and sanitation and must travel long distances or wait until nighttime to defecate under cover of darkness. Women and girls managing menstruation increases their water and sanitation requirements for several days each month.{{Cite journal|last1=Sommer|first1=Marni|last2=Ferron|first2=Suzanne|last3=Cavill|first3=Sue|last4=House|first4=Sarah|date=2015-04-01|title=Violence, gender and WASH: spurring action on a complex, under-documented and sensitive topic|url=https://doi.org/10.1177/0956247814564528|journal=Environment and Urbanization|language=en|volume=27|issue=1|pages=105–116|doi=10.1177/0956247814564528|bibcode=2015EnUrb..27..105S |s2cid=70398487|issn=0956-2478}} Amongst the UN sustainable development goals, there is specific reference to achieving access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls in vulnerable situations (indicator 6.2).{{Cite web|title=Target 6.2 – Sanitation and hygiene|url=https://www.sdg6monitoring.org/indicators/target-6-2/|access-date=2021-12-30|website=sdg6monitoring|language=en-US}}

A study conducted by the UCLA School of Law's Williams Institute found no significant change in the number of crimes since the passage of various laws that enable transgender public toilet usage.{{Cite news |title=When A Transgender Person Uses A Public Bathroom, Who Is At Risk? |website=NPR.org |url=https://www.npr.org/2016/05/15/477954537/when-a-transgender-person-uses-a-public-bathroom-who-is-at-risk |url-status=live |access-date=2017-03-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180409124830/https://www.npr.org/2016/05/15/477954537/when-a-transgender-person-uses-a-public-bathroom-who-is-at-risk |archive-date=April 9, 2018 |df=mdy-all}} Transgender and gender non-conforming people are at risk of violence when using the public toilet (see: trans bashing). A 2015 study by the National Center for Transgender Equality found that 59% of transgender Americans avoided using public facilities for fear of confrontation. This landmark study, which included 27,715 respondents, found that 24% of respondents had their presence in the restroom questioned, 12% had experienced verbal harassment, physical assault, or sexual assault when attempting to use the restroom, and 9% were denied access entirely. Several studies have found that preventing transgender people from using public toilets has negative mental health impacts, leading to a higher risk of suicide.{{Cite journal |last1=Price-Feeney |first1=Myeshia |last2=Green |first2=Amy E. |last3=Dorison |first3=Samuel H. |year=2021 |title=Impact of Bathroom Discrimination on Mental Health Among Transgender and Nonbinary Youth |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1054139X20306534 |journal=Journal of Adolescent Health |language=en |volume=68 |issue=6 |pages=1142–1147 |doi=10.1016/j.jadohealth.2020.11.001 |pmid=33288457 |s2cid=227950339}}{{Cite journal |last=Sutton |first=Halley |year=2016 |title=Transgender college students more at risk for suicide when denied bathroom, housing rights |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/casr.30167 |journal=Campus Security Report |language=en |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=9 |doi=10.1002/casr.30167}}

{{Main|Cottaging}}

File:Graffiti in Sydney - 0142.jpg

Before the gay liberation movement, public toilets were amongst the few places where men too young to enter gay bars legally could meet others who they knew with certainty to be gay.[https://books.google.com/books?id=Xu89AAAAIAAJ Prejudice and Pride: Discrimination Against Gay People in Modern Britain] by Bruce Galloway; Published by Routledge, 1983; {{ISBN|0-7100-9916-9}}, {{ISBN|978-0-7100-9916-7}}. Many, if not most, gay and bisexual men at the time were closeted, and almost no public gay social groups were available for those under legal drinking age.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/finding-private-passion-in-a-public-place-1155631.html|title=Finding private passion in a public place; Why is it that some gay men go in search of sexual encounters in lavatories?|date=11 April 1998|work=The Independent|author=David Northmore}} The privacy and anonymity public toilets provided made them a convenient and attractive location to engage in sexual acts then.

Sexual acts in public toilets are outlawed in many jurisdictions (e.g. the Sexual Offences Act 2003 in the UK).[http://www.lgf.org.uk/assets/Uploads/PDFs/News/Cottaging-and-Cruising-A4.pdf Galop.org.uk] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005011650/http://www.lgf.org.uk/assets/Uploads/PDFs/News/Cottaging-and-Cruising-A4.pdf |date=2013-10-05 }}, Cottaging and cruising: your safety, your rights and the law.[http://www.sexualhealthkingston.co.uk/sexual-health-information/sex-and-the-law Kingston Hospital NHS Trust] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004224911/http://www.sexualhealthkingston.co.uk/sexual-health-information/sex-and-the-law |date=2013-10-04 }}, Sex and the law.[http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/42/part/1 Sexual Offences Act 2003], part 1, paragraph 71, It is likely that the element of risk involved in cottaging makes it an attractive activity to some.[https://books.google.com/books?id=TDWtYqEUiWgC Public Sex/gay Space] by William Leap; Published by Columbia University Press, 1999; {{ISBN|0-231-10691-2}}, {{ISBN|978-0-231-10691-7}}.{{cite news|url=http://www.advocate.com/Print_Issue/Features/Cruise_Control |title=Cruise Control |last=Kirchick |first=James |date=1 November 2009 |newspaper=The Advocate |access-date=22 October 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091010144019/http://advocate.com/Print_Issue/Features/Cruise_Control/ |archive-date=10 October 2009 }}

Unicode provides several symbols for public toilets.Unicode.org, [https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U1F680.pdf Transport and Map Symbols]. Range: 1F680–1F6FF. (accessed 6 November 2012)

Customers often expect retail stores and shopping centres to offer public toilets. Customers rank complimentary toilets highly, and their availability influences shopping behaviour. By offering appropriate customer toilets, retail stores and shopping centres may enhance their profits and image; however, many retailers pay insufficient attention to their customer toilet facilities. Due to the potential of customer toilets to increase profits and improve store image, retailers could benefit from regarding toilets as a marketing investment rather than a property expense.{{Cite journal |last1=Piha |first1=Samuel |last2=Räikkönen |first2=Juulia |date=May 2017 |title=When nature calls: The role of customer toilets in retail stores |journal=Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services |volume=36 |pages=33–38 |doi=10.1016/j.jretconser.2017.01.005}} Some businesses, like Starbucks, have officially opted to let anyone use their toilets, without having to purchase anything.{{cite news |last1=Harriet Agerholm |date=11 May 2018 |title=Starbucks chairman says coffee shop 'toilets are open to everyone' |work=The Independent |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/starbucks-toilets-bathroom-chairman-open-everyone-race-black-philedelphia-a8347666.html |access-date=16 May 2018}} This decision was made after a highly publicized instance of racial profiling.{{cite news |last1=Zlati Meyer |date=11 May 2018 |title=Starbucks changes bathroom policy after Philadelphia arrest: Anyone may use them |work=USA Today |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2018/05/11/philadelphia-starbucks-arrest-changes-bathroom-use-policy/601303002/ |access-date=16 May 2018}}

File:Old_school_toilet_aside_(6915214053).jpg]]

{{Further|WASH#Schools}}

Lack of adequate school toilets is a very serious problem in many developing countries, and contributes to many problems from poor child health to school dropouts. Many pit latrines are not adequately built for young children, which has resulted in the tragic consequence of children dying by falling inside the hole.{{Cite news |last=Fihlani |first=Pumza |date=2018-06-04 |title=Why children are drowning in toilets |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-44329712 |access-date=2018-11-19}} Globally, about 620 million children do not have adequate toilets at school, around 900 million cannot wash their hands properly, and almost half of schools do not provide soap.{{Cite news |last=Gulland |first=Anne |date=2018-08-27 |title=Lack of toilets and water at school puts girls' education at risk |language=en-GB |work=The Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/0/lack-toilets-water-school-puts-girls-education-risk/ |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=2018-11-19 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/0/lack-toilets-water-school-puts-girls-education-risk/ |archive-date=2022-01-12 |issn=0307-1235}}{{cbignore}}

The situation of inadequate school toilets violates children's right to education and right to water and sanitation.{{Cite book |last1=van Maanen |first1=Peter |last2=Shinee |first2=Enkhtsetseg |last3=Grossi |first3=Valentina |last4=Vargha |first4=Márta |last5=Gabriadze |first5=Nana |last6=Schmoll |first6=Oliver |date=2016 |title=Prioritizing pupils' education, health and well-being |url=http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/321838/Prioritizing-pupils-education-health-well-being-en.pdf?ua=1 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220901043452/https://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/321838/Prioritizing-pupils-education-health-well-being-en.pdf |archive-date=Sep 1, 2022 |website=World Health Organization/Europe |publisher=WHO Regional Office for Europe |isbn=9-789289-052009}} Such situations are common in many parts of the world, especially in Africa and South Asia, but also in other regions. For example, in the Caucasus and Central Asia, 30% of schools do not provide adequate toilets and 37% of schools do not have access to adequate water supplies. The presence of soap and toilet paper is very important, but is largely non-existent in many regions. Missing or inadequate doors and partitioning are observed in both high- and low-income countries, which can affect children's self-esteem, especially around puberty; in the case of girls, lack of menstrual hygiene management and privacy (such as the availability of functional toilet doors with locks, disposal facilities and menstrual hygiene products in schools, soap and toilet paper) can severely impact upon their well-being and is considered a form of violation of girls' rights.

In Japan, there is still squat toilets in most schools, which most Japanese children are not able to use or find it uncomfortable, which causes constipation.{{Cite news |date=2022-11-25 |title=Over 1/4 of primary school kids avoid Japanese squat toilets, causing constipation: survey |url=https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20221125/p2a/00m/0li/023000c |access-date=2024-11-25 |work=Mainichi Daily News |language=en}}

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has funded several research projects for provision of community, shared or school toilets in developing countries since 2011, when they launched their "Reinvent the Toilet Challenge".BMGF (2015). [https://www.susana.org/en/knowledge-hub/resources-and-publications/library/details/2317 Building demand for sanitation - a 2015 portfolio update and overview - Water, sanitation, and hygiene strategy], June 2015. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, Washington, USABMGF (2018). [https://www.susana.org/en/knowledge-hub/resources-and-publications/library/details/3346 MEDS Convening 2018 - Conversations about Sanitation, SDGs and Research]. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, USA

It is today accepted in the countries of the Council of Europe that a lack of basic privacy is a violation of fundamental rights. For example, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in Szafrański v. Poland (2015) that the forcing of prisoners to use the toilet without adequate privacy amounts to a violation of Article 8 (right to respect for private life) of the European Convention on Human Rights.[https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-159205 "CASE OF SZAFRAŃSKI v. POLAND"], European Court of Human Rights, 15 December 2015

In Vietnam, many cities, especially large and densely populated cities, are experiencing a severe shortage of public toilets due to lack of land for toilet construction.{{Cite web |date=2008-03-07 |title=Đỏ mắt tìm nhà vệ sinh công cộng |url=https://tuoitre.vn/do-mat-tim-nha-ve-sinh-cong-cong-246118.htm |access-date=2024-01-04 |website=TUOI TRE ONLINE |language=vi}}{{Cite web |date=2023-02-08 |title=Nhà vệ sinh công cộng - tưởng nhỏ mà không nhỏ |url=https://vov.vn/xa-hoi/nha-ve-sinh-cong-cong-tuong-nho-ma-khong-nho-post1000412.vov |access-date=2024-01-04 |website=VOV.VN |language=vi}}{{Cite web |last=thanhnien.vn |date=2023-02-09 |title=Doanh nghiệp khốn khổ vì 'làm cách mạng' nhà vệ sinh công cộng ở TP.HCM |url=https://thanhnien.vn/doanh-nghiep-khon-kho-vi-lam-cach-mang-nha-ve-sinh-cong-cong-o-tphcm-185230209150145354.htm |access-date=2024-01-04 |website=thanhnien.vn |language=vi}} The general situation of toilets in Vietnam is insufficient, poorly installed, and dirty.{{Cite web |last=thanhnien.vn |title=Noi-am-anh-nha-ve-sinh-cong-congTin, ảnh clip video tin |url=https://thanhnien.vn/tim-kiem.htm |access-date=2024-01-04 |website=thanhnien.vn |language=vi}}{{Cite web |last=Trí |first=Dân |date=2017-03-12 |title=Hà Nội: Nhà vệ sinh công cộng bất cập đủ đường |url=https://dantri.com.vn/doi-song/ha-noi-nha-ve-sinh-cong-cong-bat-cap-du-duong-20170312105651773.htm |access-date=2024-01-04 |website=Báo điện tử Dân Trí |language=vi}} Many public places do not have toilets, leading to the situation of littering everywhere.{{Cite web |last=congly.vn |date=2017-02-11 |title=Lúng túng trong việc xử phạt hành vi "phóng uế" bừa bãi |url=https://congly.vn/lung-tung-trong-viec-xu-phat-hanh-vi-phong-ue-bua-bai-44783.html |access-date=2024-01-04 |website=congly.vn |language=vi}}{{Cite web |date=2023-03-26 |title=Thanh Hóa: Đùn đẩy quản lý nhà vệ sinh công cộng, dân phóng uế bừa bãi |url=https://laodong.vn/photo/thanh-hoa-dun-day-quan-ly-nha-ve-sinh-cong-cong-dan-phong-ue-bua-bai-1171796.ldo |access-date=2024-01-04 |website=laodong.vn |language=vi}}{{Cite web |date=2023-03-20 |title=Khi nhà vệ sinh công cộng thiếu nghiêm trọng |url=https://tienphong.vn/post-1518889.tpo |access-date=2024-01-04 |website=Báo điện tử Tiền Phong |language=vi}}

File:Gents urinals at the Fountain Inn, Parkend.jpg|Gents' toilets inspired by the Beatles album Abbey Road in Parkend, England

File:US_Restroom.jpg|Typical male public toilet in the United States

File:The Opera Toilet (3436231949).jpg|The public toilet at the Vienna State Opera has recorded music.

File:French Squatter Toilet.jpg|Roadside squat toilet near Toulouse, France

File:Chinese-toilet-in-Beijing.jpg|Traditional squat toilets in Beijing, China

File:Toilet_Beijing_1.jpg|Modern sit toilet in Beijing Airport, China

File:TWH Factory Building old squat toilet.jpg|Trough closet cubicles in a Hong Kong factory

File:Public_Toilet_1.jpg|Public toilet in New Hampshire, U.S.

File:Southern Savonia, Finland - panoramio (13).jpg|An outhouse toilet in Rantasalmi, South Savonia, Finland

File:Public toilet in Japan.jpg|Public toilet at Jozankei Hot Springs, Hokkaido, Japan

File:Clean toilet water rafting.jpg|Public toilets near Kullu, Himachal Pradesh, India

File:Toilet tree.jpg|Public toilets near cinema in Bangalore, India

File:Toilets_in_Queensland_Art_Gallery_01.jpg|Sinks in the public toilet of the Queensland Art Gallery

File:Toilet_block,_Informal_settlements_Kampala_(8410978706).jpg|Inside of cubicle in public toilet in informal settlement in Kampala, Uganda

File:Groningen Koolhaas Olaf 01.JPG|Public toilet by Rem Koolhaas and Erwin Olaf in Groningen, the Netherlands

File:Toilet instructions IMG 2850.jpg|Instructions posted in women's public toilet, Germany

File:Harrods gents IMG 0905.jpg|Gents' toilets in Harrods department store in London

File:Vp squattoilet.jpg|Public squat toilet in Hong Kong

File:Welsh Dragon Bar, Wellington.jpg|Welsh Dragon Bar, Wellington, New Zealand; formerly a public toilet

File:Toilet-pictogram.svg|Toilet sign / AIGA badges

{{Commons category|Public toilets}}

• Accessible toilet
• Toilet room, in a private setting
• EToilet
• National Public Toilet Map (in Australia)
• Human right to water and sanitation
• Sanitation
• Self-cleaning floor
• Spray-and-vac cleaning, a method of professional cleaning
• World Toilet Day
• World Toilet Organization

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{offline|med}}

• [http://www.britloos.co.uk British Toilet Association] Campaigning for Better Public Toilets for All
• [http://americanrestroom.org American Restroom Association] America's advocate for the availability of clean, safe, well designed public restrooms
• [http://www.toiletmap.gov.au Australia's National Public Toilet Map] shows the location of more than 14,000 public and private public toilet facilities across Australia.
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20190720220942/https://www.publictoilets.org/ Public Toilets Database] Locations of public toilets in 18 countries. New locations and comments can be added. Detailed information includes the geographic coordinates and quality of the facility.
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20170923023940/http://needaloo.org/ Needaloo The Uk Online Disabled Loo Locator]
• [http://www.phlush.org PHLUSH] Volunteer advocacy group for public toilets
• [http://www.urinal.net/index.html#gallery Urinal Dot Net]

{{Toilets}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Public Toilet}}

Category:Rooms

Category:Sanitation

Category:Equality rights

Category:Social inequality

Category:Women's health