Both the ladies’ and gentlemen’s WC are in the same room, the wash basin and mirrors are shared, and the entrance door for the restroom is shared. Fortunately, there are still separate cubicles for men and women. I was wondering if maybe this was the only case, and was due to space limitation. Then I went to a lecture at the Leeuwenborch, and I suffered the same embarrassment during the break. I started to guess that maybe this is a Dutch way to save money. Later on, I went to some other public buildings and once again I found that ladies and gentlemen shared the same WC. There are signs for both genders on the door. This would never happen in China because lots of women only go to the restrooms to touch up their make-up or just neaten up their clothes. I think it is pretty awkward for women to do their make-up or straighten up their clothes when there are men around.
Nowadays, I realize the Dutch have found a very clever solution to save space and time for all concerned. In public buildings in China it frequently happens that there is a long queue outside the ladies room while the gents’ toilet is empty. If we learned the Dutch way of constructing restrooms, maybe we could solve a very practical problem.
Ye Tian, PhD student at the Laboratory of Microbiology, from China.
Dames of heren?
De eerste keer dat Ye Tian het toilet van haar Nederlandse kantoor binnen liep, dacht ze dat ze verkeerd zat. Een man stond zijn handen te wassen. Maar het bleek dat mannen en vrouwen de wasbakken en spiegels deelden. Gelukkig waren er wel aparte wc’s.
In China zou dit niet gebeuren omdat vrouwen graag hun make-up willen bijwerken zonder dat er mannen bij zijn. Het is even wennen, vindt Ye, maar het scheelt wel een hele wachtrij.