Why Are There No Unisex Bathbrooms?
Thursday, December 27A game theoretic explanation of why there are no unisex bathrooms in Switzerland, and Europe in general
In the two preceding posts I outlined why men's rooms are dirty, and why women stand in line in front of ladies' rooms. Imagine what unisex bathrooms would look like: Every visitor would have to wait in line in order to visit a dirty restroom. Unlike certain restrooms in Scandinavia, in Switzerland you only have either a dirty restroom, or you have to wait. This is the perfect explanation for why the majority of restrooms are gender-specific.
What reasons are there to have unisex bathrooms? In Scandinavia, people argue it would be "unfair" if men had to wait for a shorter time simply because they are men. Social costs need to be evenly distributed between both genders, do they not?
Let us examine this argument in more detail. When changing from separated bathrooms to unisex bathrooms, men are worse off in any case: The bathrooms will not be tidier while waiting time increases. Women face an advantage and a disadvantage: While bathrooms get dirtier, waiting time decreases because fast men are added. We do not know whether an individual woman prefers to wait for a tidy bathroom, or get faster to a dirtier bathroom - there is no dominant relation between the two alternatives. I believe women generally like the fast dirty bathrooms equally, at most.
Regardless, unisex bathrooms would most likely become slow, dirty bathrooms. Due to the separation by single cabins, men would be in the same situation like women and therefore become slower. Existing unisex bathrooms are proof of this theory as men choose not to sit (too dirty), but still take more time than at the open urinal.
It is obvious that both groups are worse off with unisex bathrooms; in the best case, women are equal while men are worse off. For this reason, the argument of "fairness" does not hold water: Both groups are now in the equal situation, just in the equally bad situation. Social costs have not been equally distributed, but new ones have been created.
(The antecedent remarks are based on game theory, a branch of applied mathematics that is often used in the context of economics. The writing of my article was greatly inspired by Prof. Dr. Christian Rieck, a german professor who specializes in game theory. Visit his website at www.spieltheorie.de)
As a female who must sit or crouch, I would prefer to wait for a cleaner bathroom. I know kids and women who "hold it" all day in order to use their preferred bathroom at home.
90hazelnut December 31, 2007 1:00 PM