Women in Guangzhou want more toilets, occupy the men’s loo
Posted: 08/22/2012 7:00 amIt’s not exactly bra burning but it’s a start.
Sixteen young women took to the streets of Guangzhou on August 20 to demand the city provide twice as many women’s toilets as men’s toilets, according to local media. The protest, which took place around 11 a.m., involved the women sitting on home-made replica toilets to demonstrate their grievances.
The women stood on Wenming Road outside the Guangzhou headquarters of Urban Administration Officials, also known as chengguan, repeating the slogan (which rhymes in Chinese), “Until women’s toilets outnumber men’s by 2 to 1, our wait will be unbearable.”
Later, the leaders of the group, Jia Yang, Li Maizi and Zheng Churan were invited into the headquarters to hand over their petition demanding the additional women’s toilets, according to Southern Metropolis Daily.
Officials said their demands would be dealt with within 60 days. The current ratio of women’s toilets to men’s toilets in the city is 1.5 to 1.
On August 19, the women staged an “occupation” of the men’s toilets at Yuexiu Park.
This movement for additional women’s toilets is by no means isolated to Guangzhou. According to The New York Times, similar occupations of men’s toilets by women took place earlier this year.