Public 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.

The standard wheelchair-accessible public toilet features wider doors, ample space for turning, lowered sinks, and grab-bars for safety.

[18] 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.

[17] George Jennings, the sanitary engineer, introduced public toilets, which he called "monkey closets", to the Crystal Palace for The Great Exhibition of 1851.

[23] 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.

Local health boards often built underground public toilets to a high standard, although provisions were higher for men than women.

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.

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.

[38] 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.

[53] Amnesty International includes sex-separated toilets among its list of suggested measures to ensure the safety of women and girls in schools.

[55] 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.

[61] 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.

[64] 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.

[66] 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.

[72][73][74] 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.

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.

[82] If bus and truck drivers on timed schedules have difficulty in accessing toilets, this puts them at risk of bladder and digestive health problems.

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.

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.)"

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.

[104] 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.

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.

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.

[109][110][111] 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.

[112] 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).

[78] Several studies have found that preventing transgender people from using public toilets has negative mental health impacts, leading to a higher risk of suicide.

[131] 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.