THE topic of restrooms doesn’t receive much space in the press but it should. Toilet facilities are one of life’s necessities and they tell much about a society and its people. Some countries like the UAE and Singapore have gone to great lengths to ensure that adequate public restrooms are available. This has been a boon to the tourist industries of both nations. In the United States many cities legislate and inspect public restrooms. For the Sydney Olympics there was even a competition among architectural firms for the design of the public conveniences.
In the Kingdom, we haven’t been as lucky. Yes, over the last decade the availability of public toilet facilities has increased. But many of them are filthy and rarely maintained properly. Travel between cities is particularly fraught with difficulty as there are few rest houses along the highways and most don’t have any toilets for women. Muslims coming to the Kingdom for the first time cannot understand why there is such a problem. They incorrectly assume that all mosques will have toilet facilities. Unfortunately, the majority of mosques have toilet facilities only for men and these are often in horrifying condition.
In a guidebook to the Eastern Province, there is a special section called, “Where in the world are all the restrooms?” Readers are counseled that hotels and restaurants generally have restrooms but that people should bring their own toilet paper. There is also a list of restrooms in shopping areas. One location on the list has the notation after it — “Use as a last resort.” Such a comment is hardly comforting. Some of our public toilets have become so infamous that pictures of some of them are posted out on the Internet.
The lack of restrooms creates a hardship for many. Pregnant women, women with young children and senior citizens frequently find themselves in misery. Businesswomen find it difficult to function when most office buildings in the Kingdom have no restrooms for ladies.
Even where public restrooms do exist they are generally disgustingly dirty. Some businesses such as 5-star hotels and upscale restaurants inspect and clean their restrooms every hour or two. These are the exceptions. Everywhere else from airports to shopping malls, female patrons are confronted with a mess when they visit the restroom. Lack of soap, no paper towels, stinking trash receptacles, and floors covered with water are the norm.
Now before any business owner starts complaining about biased reporting, it must be pointed out that many of the problems in restrooms could be alleviated if people would be a little tidier. Flushing the toilet after use would be a big start. Not throwing trash and paper towels in the toilets would be helpful too. Being more careful with the water used for washing would not only keep the floors dry, but also save a precious resource.
There is one problem peculiar to restrooms in shopping malls. Because stores do not have fitting rooms many women will purchase a garment and then go to the mall’s restroom to try it on. One can imagine what a scene this creates on busy weekends. Toilet stalls will be fully occupied, many with women trying on clothes. Other women and children in need of the facilities will be lined up to the doorways. Clothes to be returned to the shops are often thrown on the floor of the toilet stall. Anyone witnessing such a scene would, in the future, be certain to wash all newly purchased garments with disinfectant before they were worn. Women state that they are forced into this behavior because their guardians are unwilling to go back and forth between the mall and their homes simply to exchange a garment for one in another size. Managers of shopping malls are fully aware of this situation so why don’t they equip women’s restrooms with changing areas, removed from the toilet facilities?
Some of the worst comments about restrooms concern the conveniences at Saudi airports. One woman stated, “The restrooms at the airport were my first experience with public facilities in Saudi Arabia. The sinks were all dirty. There was no soap. I could see the marks from shoe soles where people had stood on top of the seats to use the toilets. I had only a few tissues and I didn’t know how to manage cleaning up such a mess.”
One reason for this problem is that at many airports in the Kingdom no female cleaners are hired. Male maintenance staff may neglect the women’s toilets out of fear and male supervisors are also reluctant to conduct inspections. Such a situation is in stark contrast to airports in other Gulf nations where female washroom attendants are on duty round the clock. Such attendants usually take care of two large restrooms. They keep the facilities clean and also provide assistance to female travelers who may be ill or need help with small children.
As the Kingdom becomes more interested in attracting tourists, strategies must be developed to solve the restroom problem. In heavily used facilities such as those at airports and shopping malls, toilets that flush automatically should be installed.
Similar automatic systems to control the water flow in sinks are available too. Floors in restrooms should be sloped and provided with drains so that water cannot pool. In some other countries where the procurement of cleaning staff is a problem, toilet facilities have been developed that clean and disinfect themselves to a certain extent. These should be investigated. A public education campaign should be started on the importance of cleanliness in the use of public restrooms. Cleaning times should be posted on the outer doors of women’s restrooms so that adequate maintenance may be carried out. Telephone numbers of maintenance supervisors should be posted in restrooms in airports and other large public facilities with a notice that women are encouraged to call to report dirty restrooms.
In a modern society we have a need for clean public restrooms. A little effort from each of us would go a long way toward making them available for all.
