[100 Challenge] Roberta Gattel_87

Invisible women. Exposing data bias in a world designed for men, Caroline Criado Perez, 2019

Let’s talk about average measurements.

In Italy, men are 1.77m tall on average, and women are 1.64m. The average height of toilets in public bathrooms is 43 cm. This means that, generally, an average toilet reaches a little higher than a knee in a woman of average height, while it reaches knee height or a little lower than a man of average height. Considering that it is easier for men to bend over a toilet half the height of their leg and that half of their needs can be met while standing, these 43 cm do not represent a problem for them. But for women, it's a different story.

The woman is forced to lean both to urinate and to defecate; this means that not being able to sit on the public toilet seat for hygienic reasons, she must carry out all her physiological needs in a squat position. This is not an unsustainable situation in optimal conditions in which the toilet is 43 cm high, the woman is 1.64m tall, and has muscles that allow her to withstand the tension of a squat. But what happens if the toilet is of a greater height than if the woman does not have it? Is the physical elasticity necessary to urinate contracted, or is it simply shorter?

In Italy, public toilets are divided by gender, with the relative symbol of the stylized person with trousers for men and the stylized person with a skirt for women. With the regulations of more accessible structures (Law no. 13 of 9 January 1989), bathrooms designed for the needs of disabled people or those with reduced mobility were introduced, here too indicated with the appropriate stylized person, but in a wheelchair. In this case, the toilets have an average height of 50 cm.

In Italy, most public places have maintained the two-way division of bathrooms by gender and have adapted one of the two to law no. 13/1989, eliminating the architectural barriers that made access impossible. The problem is that the bathroom intended to meet the parameters of inclusiveness is only and always that of the female gender. In Italy, with rare exceptions, no bathrooms are divided by gender with the double symbol: a person with trousers + a person in a wheelchair next to someone with a skirt + a person in a wheelchair. The men's bathrooms remain for "able-bodied" men only. The consequences? It is challenging for women to use that same bathroom with ease.

If it is already uncertain that a woman of average height can use an average-height toilet without problems, what happens when it is 50 cm high? What does a short woman do? You cannot do squats on a toilet higher than your legs. How do you manage the need - which half of the population between 12 and 52 years old has - to change a tampon or a sanitary pad? Because if you have a heavy cycle, you can't change your pad while standing; you have to do it in squats.

Suppose you search online for the reasons why the bathroom for disabled people was merged with that of women. In that case, the answers are varied and range from the Bigger space offered by the accessible toilet, where mothers can bring their young children in, to the fact that the average age of a woman is older. Therefore, it is more likely that there are elderly female disabled people. Not considering that even fathers can have young dependent children and that there are disabled people of all ages and of both genders. Nobody mentions what, in my opinion, is the real reason for this choice, namely that it is taken for granted that it is always women who take care of disabled people.

Women are inevitably relegated to care and invisible work in Italy, not only in Italy. When I travel or even go out, my solution is to avoid drinking. For my male friends, it is unreasonable and exaggerated behavior (not surprisingly, two adjectives are always associated with female behavior); it's easy for them; nothing has ever pushed them to stray into unreasonableness!

All the architecture that houses them was built for their reason and size: they can go anywhere (and urinate anywhere). The law of 9 January 1989, which aimed to remove architectural barriers hostile to disabled bodies, was applied in such a way as to increase hostility for almost all able-bodied female bodies. A clear message for us women: our problems are invisible; we are invisible. I, being 1.63 cm tall, having heavy menstruation, and not having significantly developed thigh muscles, have to fight to find a public bathroom that allows me to meet my needs without using up all my energy.

This means not having to spend a good half hour queuing for the bathroom, not having to climb onto the toilet bowl like a monkey, nor assuming contortionist positions to change a tampon without getting blood on my trousers or to keep the door locked (because the locks on public toilets are almost always broken).

When I choose where to have an aperitif with friends, I always have to consider the type of bathroom the place offers. This means that I always choose the same places - those that make me feel safe and at ease - instead of making me less inclined to experiment with new places because they have the threatening unknown of the "shitty bathroom."

Not being able to piss everywhere means not being able to go everywhere. “WaterAid reports that girls and women collectively spend 97 billion hours a year finding a safe place to relieve themselves. The lack of adequate toilet provision is a public health problem for both sexes (for example, in India, where 60% of the population does not have access to a toilet, 90% of surface water is contaminated), but the problem is particularly acute for women, in no small part because of the attitude that men can ‘go everywhere,’ while for women to be seen urinating is shameful”.