Bathrooms also known as restrooms or toilets are a crucial facility that is mandatory for access by all employees of an organization. According to the occupation safety and health administration (OSHA) there should be sufficient and well maintained bathrooms for employees in all entities (Maurer 2015). One of the reasons as to why OSHA makes it mandatory for all the organizations to have restrooms is to ensure that employee’s health at work is not jeopardized by the consequences of not having toilets. The standard regulations of bathrooms as required by the health regulating body is that; they are available, sufficient in number, well designed, have places for hand washing and are allocated appropriately. Most of the minimum standards are met by a majority of organizations however there have been controversial issues regarding allocation of bathrooms between men and women (Maurer 2015). Some organizations consider following the rule of having separate bathrooms for men and women while others bend the regulations and have joint bathrooms. The paper will therefore explore the rationale behind establishing single stall bathrooms at work and also the consequences of not observing such a rule.
One of the reasons for the establishment of single stall bathrooms at work is the need to adhere to the OSHO rules and regulations regarding allocation of restrooms. The regulating body requires that all organizations who have employed both men and women provide gender differentiated bathrooms for workforces with over 15 employees that have both male and female (Maurer 2015). OSHO also states that the rest rooms need to be designated as being for either men or female unless they can be occupied by one person and are lockable from the inside. The Maurer states “OSHA requires that employers provide gender-segregated facilities for workforces over 15 employees that contain men and women, and bathrooms must be designated as being for male or female use unless they can be occupied by no more than one person and can be locked from the inside” (Maurer 2015). They should also be designed in such a way there are partitions between one compartment and another for the sake of security and privacy of the users.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Another reason for the establishment of single stall bathrooms is to prevent and reduce the cases of sexual assault which majorly affect women and girls in most organizations (Lawford-Smith 2019). Research indicates that when there are multi stall bathrooms men and women interact in the same place when they want to use the facilities as a result women are sexually assaulted by men with the intention to do the heinous act (Lawford-Smith 2019). It is indicated that 90 percent of sexual assault complains are from the use of unisex facilitates for instance in swimming changing rooms and this is also the case for the bathrooms at work place. When the single stalls are establish the cases of sexual assault at the restrooms will be reduced. A good example is the number of sexual assaults that occurred in multi stall bathroom between 2017 and 2018 which are said to be 120 cases as compared to those that took place in single user amounting to 14.
Similarly, the establishment of single stall bathrooms will reduce the rates sexism exacerbation at the work place. It is important to note that there are organizations that are male dominated and in some of them men try to undermine women. In this regard it worsens when they share intimate places such as rest rooms (Lawford-Smith 2019). Women might be forced to visit the place les frequently in fear of being attacked by men and this can bring serious health issues such as kidney effects. One of a survey participant states “She has one colleague who is openly sexist and who is constantly trying to undermine her. Her bosses are male. What happens in a workplace where women have problems with men, and they’re forced to share intimate space with those men?” (Lawford-Smith 2019). In such a case women suffer a lot because they are dominated by men and therefore a high need for the establishment of single stall bathrooms.
Single stall bathrooms are also ideal because men and women have different needs with female being needier (Greed 2019). Every month a majority of women receive their periods and a time it can be messy because they bleed and can go over to the floor or on their clothes in this regard it can be a horrible site especially to men who do not understand or are chauvinists (Greed 2019).. Also they might consider using the bathrooms to clear up their messed clothes by and if they are caught catch by men without clothes they can be victims of rape and also lose their privacy (Greed 2019). Besides, men also need to use the urinal privately without being seen by female colleagues and if it is a gender neutral bathroom they a female employee can walk in and find them in the process and this will be infringing on privacy.
Furthermore, women a times need a place to do a bit of grooming on their hair or even application of makeup and in most cases they are comfortable doing it with their fellow women who understand the need for it (Hendricks 2018). In this regard it will be unfair of organizations not to consider having single stall bathrooms where women can comfortably exercise their grooming without the presence of men. Also there are certain organizations where need to help a fellow woman with a child in changing among other issues surrounding baby are and this can be great if it is dome in women only bathrooms. Another rationale behind the establishment of single stall bathrooms is that a times women who are pregnant can get miscarriage and when there single stall bathrooms are available it is easy for them to clean up before they get medical attention. Similarly, women need hygienic environment because they can easily contract diseases if they use toilets that are contaminated in this regard it is wise to separate the men form women toilets. Urinals can be a great threat to women’s hygiene because they can get bacterial infection.
On the contrary establishment single stall bathrooms have brought controversies stating that they widen the discrimination gap based on gender. (Hendricks 2018) The people who consider themselves as transgender feel they have been left out because they are torn in between choosing which type of rest room to use (Kopas 2012). They consider themselves not identify with either male or female but in their own category as transgender and when bathrooms are made single stall they will find trouble in settling on which one to use. It is also a gesture of not recognizing them yet they have rights just like other people in this regard they opt for gender neutral bathrooms (Kopas 2012). Most work places in America have followed the standard OSHO regulations of having separate bathrooms however others are still torn between avoiding discrimination and countering other challenges such as assault. Also have the single stall bathrooms can be regarded as a form of discriminating men and women yet they are working within the same facility. People who do not identify themselves as either male are female a times bring issues regarding their sexuality and the need to be recognized by the law and any matter deviating from their identity is discrimination in this regard they need to be considered. There are other groups of people who need to be considered in regard to allocation of bathrooms and this entail the people with disabilities. They need facilities to be fitted in the single toilets to enable them benefit from the services just like other people. It implies that there is a need for extra fittings. The rationale behind this is to avoid the issue feeling discriminated and not included as other people who are not physically challenged.
It is important to note that there is need to establish single stall bathrooms for the sake of being compliant with the OSHO regulations. Also, privacy is paramount and no person would like to have such a right infringed. In this regard both men and women should feel secure when using the bathrooms. Women in most male dominated organizations have faced sexism from their male colleagues and it can worsen when they have to visit the same resting places. The female employees might be afraid and end up using the bathrooms fewer than the required times. Similarly cases of sexual assault have become common and as earlier discussed it takes place in gender neutral bathrooms. Women are the majority victims and the establishment of single stall bathrooms will be crucial among women. Men also need privacy while using the urinal and having female colleagues walking in while they are in the process of easing themselves can be fringing. Future research need to consider the aspect of people who do not identify themselves as either male or female and explore more on how such people can fit into the bathroom aspect.
References
Greed, C. (2019). Join the queue: Including women’s toilet needs in public space. The Sociological Review, 67(4), 908-926.
Hendricks, J. S. (2018). Arguing with the Building Inspector about Gender-Neutral Bathrooms. Nw. UL Rev. Online, 113, 77.
Kopas, M. B. D. (2012). The Illogic of Separation: Examining Arguments About Gender-Neutral Public Bathrooms (Doctoral dissertation).
Lawford-Smith. H (2019) Should companies install gender neutral bathrooms? Retrieved from https://medium.com/@aytchellis/should-companies-install-gender-neutral-bathrooms-ba5762f6a6aa
Margolin, S., & Poggiali, J. (2017). “Where Are the Bathrooms?”: Academic Library Restrooms and Student Needs. Journal of Library Administration, 57(5), 481-499.
Maurer. R (2015) Bathroom Business: OSHA’s Restroom Rules retrieved from https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/risk-management/pages/osha-restroom-rules.aspx
Poggiali, J., & Margolin, S. (2019). Peeking at the Potty: Learning from Academic Library Bathrooms and Advocating Change. Journal of Library Administration, 59(7), 743-767.
Schmidt, D. A. (2013). Bathroom bias: Making the case for trans rights under disability law. Mich. J. Gender & L., 20, 155. Retrieved from https://repository.law.umich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1033&context=mjgl
