Why Are Women’s Bathrooms Always on The Right?

Many people do not know about the reasons for a women’s bathroom to be on the right except the one that they are supposed to be always right.

Why Are Women’s Bathrooms Always on The Right? Women’s bathrooms are not always on the right but are commonly located after men’s bathrooms due to increased traffic flow, separate stalls, privacy issues, and extra time. In addition, they have to deal with kids, elders, and many clothes layers on them, so they are usually present on the right in restaurants, public transportation hubs, and shopping malls but on the left side in offices and schools.

Most probably, you have seen female toilets on the right side and male ones on the left; but it is not the only case, as males can be on the right, and females’ washrooms can be on the left.

Why are women’s bathrooms on the right?

There are many logical reasons for women’s bathrooms to be on the right side, except they are always right. Ladies are supposed to do right as they are more organized and have intuitive nature.

In addition, their restrooms are usually designed to be placed after the men’s washroom at different commercial places as they are usually more occupied than men’s bathrooms.

Increased traffic flow

Women’s bathrooms usually have high traffic because they have to improve their makeup and brush their hair more often than men due to beauty concerns.

Accordingly, they visit such places frequently because they are more conscious or concerned about their appearance than men. On average, they see in the mirror almost 15 to 20 times daily.

You can also consider that females are more addicted to gazing, which positively impacts their mood and helps develop emotional resilience.

You have probably seen long queues in front of the ladies’ washroom or even gone through it. These long queues take up space in front of the bathrooms and can make areas crowdy.

However, it rarely happens that you see a queue in front of the men’s bathroom for different reasons; that’s why they are designed to be on the front side.

Take more time

Women spend more time inside the bathroom than men. They have several layers of clothes on their body, increasing the time taken inside stalls. Men spend more time on a toilet seat than women, but the overall duration is shorter.

According to researchers, it is found that males spend almost 12 to 14 minutes on the toilet seat, but females take around 6 to 8 minutes on average.

However, the total time taken inside the stall is more for girls as they have to deal with a lot of stuff on their bodies that need to be taken off and put on back.

Individual toilet stalls

Women’s bathrooms are usually placed after males due to the separation of stalls as they need to enter a stall, unlike the males, that do not need a covered space.

Men’s washrooms have urinals separated by a small barrier of boards between them, but girls need a well-covered space as they have to deal with many personal things.

Walls and doors separate their stalls to ensure their privacy. These individual stalls consume more space as compared to urinals.

In addition, more space consumption means fewer toilets can be installed in the ladies’ bathrooms.

It is observed that almost 12 toilet seats can be installed for males and 10 for females if the area of washrooms is equal, which means females have to wait for more time.

Deal with kids

Most commonly, females have children with them as they have to manage the kids and elders most of the time and are responsible for their needs.

It is challenging to handle kids as they cannot independently use the toilet and need their mother’s assistance because they are not mature enough to handle their clothes.

In the same way, elders also need help getting inside the stalls and using the toilets. In addition, senior people usually have mobility issues and need help from younger ones.

It is observed that girls have to wait almost 30 times more than men as they have to deal with different situations and handle their children inside bathrooms.

So, women have to deal with such things more often than men, resulting in long queues in front of the female washroom.

Enter bathroom stall

They have to enter a bathroom stall because there are doors, which can consume more time and cause delays in turns for the next person.

Moreover, there are doors to enter the vanity area and another at the entrance to the toilet area, where stalls are usually present.

The stalls also have separate doors that need to be opened for entry. It takes almost a few minutes to open the door, lock the stall, unlock it, and re-open it to come out of it.

It adds to the overall time females take in the bathroom, so placing them after the men’s washroom is better.

Need more privacy

Females need more privacy than males, so they need a covered space or toilets for them. There are no uncovered urinals in female washrooms commonly seen for the opposite gender.

Their toilet areas are usually placed on the far end, and male washrooms are kept on the front side to decrease the chances of problems in terms of privacy.

Males do not have to cross in front of the girl’s bathroom to reach their space when the female washrooms are present on the right side.

Are women’s bathrooms always on the right?

There is no rule to build the women’s bathroom on the right side, but it is usually a priority in high-traffic places like restaurants and cafes.

Most commonly, public places like malls and transportation hubs consider the fact that women are always right and keep males’ washrooms on the left side to acknowledge them.

However, some other places like offices and schools do not follow it and keep men’s washrooms on the right side while female ones are on the left.

It indicates that it is not a tradition to keep female toilets always on the right, as they can be on the left where there is no such problem of long queues.

In addition, you can also see all-gender or unisex bathrooms in some places where there is no concept of differentiation between the genders in terms of facilities.

There are single bathrooms for males, females, and children at home because there is no excessive use of toilets, and they do not have to face issues like public washrooms.

They are designed because males and females get an equal chance to use the stalls and wait in long queues for their turns.

Furthermore, it can help families where fathers can come inside to handle children and care for things when their partners are inside the toilet stalls.

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