Who can oppose to the statement that everyone shall be able to use the restroom when needed?
As an example, segregation of races at restroom seems to be regarded as a violation of human rights by most of people in Korea. Then, what about gender?
Can every gender in Korea use the restroom without difficulty?
In 2019, it was reported that most construction sites have no restroom for women.
Women construction workers, which is ten percent of workforce in construction industry, were not provided the restroom nor changeroom. Surprisingly the similar problem of ‘the unavailable restroom’ can be found in many other workplaces.
The cause of unavailability varies. Workers in the service or sales sectors are restricted from using the restroom because of risk of lowering productivity and of disturbing convenience of the customers. Workers who need to visit different places cannot have secure access to the restroom because of the nature of labor which belongs to no specific workplace.
Workers with special gender identity and handicapped workers cannot use the restroom because there is no restroom available to them.
Despite of differences in situations of the workers described above, all of them points that there are someone who cannot use the restroom which should be available to all. Eventually we can address the problem of ‘unavailable restroom’ only when we reveal and improve the condition that makes people unable to use the restroom. Moreover, this is a human right issue because inaccessibility to restroom dismisses the fundamental need and deprives people of the right to control their own body.
We also need to remember the role of capitalists to create the condition preventing workers from using the restroom. They put higher priority on the convenience of customers over the human right of workers, try to control every moment at work, and like to shift the responsibility on working environment to individual worker. Therefore the problem of unavailable restroom in work is inseparable from the question on who are included and excluded by this society or the workplaces, or on what kind of image of workers is assumed in designing the work processes, speed, and production system.

Restroom for All; People who are excluded from the ‘All’

Let’s start discussion on the public restrooms. They are restrooms for all and ought to be installed where they need to be with appropriate structures, sizes, and umbers. However, a wheelchair- bound worker has no restroom at all if the workplace has no restroom for the handicapped people. It is almost impossible to say that a public restroom exists when a woman needs to stand in a very long queue in public places. There are people who have been excluded from consideration on the users of public restrooms. Public restrooms which ought to be for ‘all’ have not yet exist.
Designing public restrooms based on dualized gender system disables LGBTQ people from using the restrooms. Continuing disability in using the restrooms brings economic poverty and social marginalization to them.
Gender-neutral restroom has been proposed as a solution. Some people misunderstand it as an opponent of women’s safety. But gender-neutral restroom does not mean removal of distinction of gender in the restrooms. Rather, it means additional space for people who are not included by the dualized gender classification. It also means a design of public restroom literally for all; for examples, for people who take care of kids, who are physically handicapped, and who want to use restrooms without being disturbed by others.

Workers who are unable to use restrooms

Workplaces have various problems related to restrooms. So many workers are unable to access the restrooms.
One of the major causes of difficulty in using the restrooms is originated from the employers’ desire to keep higher productivity by restricting workers activities. For example, workers in call centers should leave messages of ‘Leaving the seat for restroom’ and ‘Back to the seat from restroom’ in the in-house messaging application which everyone can see. They are able to go to restroom only when they report to or even get permission from the manager. Employers try to justify this system by arguing that efficiency of work will decrease and numbers of waiting customers will increase if multiple workers go to restroom at the same time.
Workers cannot help feeling uncomfortable to go to restroom under this type of restriction. Actually lots of workers in call centers suffer from chronic bladder diseases or try to avoid the trouble with managers by not drinking water.
Sales Clerks are suffering from the similar limitation. They are able to go to bathroom only when the store is not busy and only when permitted.
A survey in 2018 by the Korean Federation of Private Service Workers Union revealed that 59.8% of sales clerks could not have used the restroom during working hours due to lack of time or workforce. In department stores, workers cannot use the restrooms on each floor since they are available ‘exclusively for the customers’. Restrooms for workers are usually installed far away from the shops and equipped with insufficient number of toilets, making workers more uncomfortable.
While the examples above show the workers who cannot use the existing bathrooms due to several conditions, there are workers literally suffering from absence of restroom.
The city gas meter person visit each customer’s place to read the gauge and check safety. Although they enter the house for safety check, it is very hard for them to ask using the bathroom of the customers. Also it could be problematic in terms of safety of the workers, majority of whom are women. Public restroom is not available when they work in the residential areas. As a result, most of the city gas meter person do not eat nor drink water during working hours. Cystitis is a common health problem.
Meanwhile, the example of women construction workers described above shows not only the limitation of the conventional belief which cannot imagine the presence of women at the construction sites, but also the problem resulting from gender discrimination which has made the need and desire of women workers insignificant. Those employers had ignored the obvious fact that women workers, ten percent of their employees, need to go to the restroom until the union raised the issue.
In June 2019, right after the issue of restroom for women construction workers had become known to the society, the Ministry of Employment and Labor announced the guideline on washing facilities and restrooms in workplaces.
The first requirement mentioned in this guideline was the separate restrooms for men and women. The separate restroom for men and women might be helpful for protection of women’s safety, since so many sexual offences such as rape, voyeurism, and visual recording are committed in restrooms in the workplaces. However, can it be sufficient for preventing and addressing rampant sexual offenses in daily life and workplace? Can we prevent sexual offences simply by separating all the public restrooms? Doesn’t it narrow the scope of problem down to a place where the sexual offences are committed by ignoring the basic cause and mechanism of them? We rather need strong policy for prevention and punishment of sexual offences. In addition, we need to remember the separate restroom for two sexes could worsen the inaccessibility by some people such as LGBTQ.

Restroom for All at Work; for Health and Human Right

Issue of restroom at work looks to be simple and plain, but it implies various problems
such as the conventional belief on workers and their lives, human right of different workers, and equity at work.
It is extremely uncomfortable if you cannot use restroom at work. You restrict eating and drinking.
You suffer from frequent problems in your bladder. You may develop a unhealthy habit if you need to compensate by eating and drinking too much after work, resulting in decrease in physiologic function of your body.
Excretion is not the only purpose of restroom. People take care of their hygiene by washing their hands and face or exchanging sanitary pads in the restroom.
Public bathroom becomes more important recently for protection and prevention of contagious diseases.
Mental stress of workers from being suppressed to use the restroom at work is another significant problem.

Ultimately, the problems on the restroom at work imply ones on health, human right, and equity of workers.
People who have been excluded from those values ought to be considered
and included in the policies on the restroom and relevant facilities at work.