Human Dignity and Rights Begin in the Bathroom
By Wesdyne Otto, Director - Positive-Shift Creative Arts
Article one of the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights begins, “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” Human dignity and rights begin with the question, “May I use the washroom?” Depending on who you are you might be granted the right. Bathrooms are a contentious human rights issue, now and historically.
Taunya Lovell Banks’ 2020 article, The Disappearing Public Toilet argues that the lack of public toilets results in discrimination against people seeking access to those toilets based on occupation, socioeconomic status, gender-identification, race, and even medical condition. Access to washrooms is a human rights issue.
Throughout history and the world, sanitation rights are inequitable. The World Health Organization reports that 54% of the world’s population have access to safe sanitation. Typhoid and diarrheal diseases from the unsanitary disposal of human waste is the world’s largest killer. Prior to the 1955 polio vaccination, polio was the main cause of childhood disability worldwide. Polio, like the sars-cov-2 virus, exists in fecal matter. Therefore, handwashing and access to sanitary washrooms is an essential step in curbing its spread.
Natural disasters, inequitable sanitation infrastructure, war, and a lack of sanitary washrooms continues to kill children and adults. Sanitation is achieved by ensuring that blackwater does not leach into drinking water supplies, smoke from burnt biological waste is contaminant free, and fluids and gases from cess pits are contained. As I told my students once, “The world has enough lawyers. If you want a better tomorrow, become a septic worker.”
I live near a lake. Recently, the village banned septic fields and put more restrooms with blackwater holding tanks around the lake. Previously, visitors to the lake used any place with privacy to relieve themselves. The washrooms are an attempt to keep our water and shores clean. As the book says, everyone poops. That waste may contain viruses, plus pharmaceutical and illegal drug residue. Keeping the aquifer and lake water clean helps the people, plants and animals stay healthy.
Many Indigenous groups living on colonized land allotments do not have access to safe water or sanitation. In October, 2022 UN Special Rapporteur, Pedro Arrojo-Agudo noted that Indigenous groups worldwide are being denied the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation. The Rural Development Network of Canada defines homelessness as the situation of an individual, family, or community without stable, safe, permanent, appropriate housing, or the immediate prospect, means, and ability to acquire it. It could be argued that people living in homes lacking safe, drinking water and stable sewage systems are homeless. This extends beyond rural Indigenous communities to rural elderly and poor who cannot afford to maintain or upgrade their septic system and well system. Our rural home initially did not have potable water or a working septic system, which the previous elderly owners could not afford to fix.
American Blacks waited until the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for legal acces to all public washrooms, but many states dragged their feet in repealing segregation laws. The lavendar fear campaign saw LGBT employment rights denied as well as the right to use public washrooms. The lavender fear campaign spread false rumors equating gay to pedophilia, which is a lie. As a result, the LGBTQ+ population is still fighting for the right to use washrooms.
In Canada, gender-neutral washrooms are a contentious issue in schools and public spaces. Every week, CIS women and men on Facebook rant about gender-inclusive and trans people in restrooms. From my older, disabled, female perspective, sharing a washroom with LGBTQ+ makes sense. We equally fear misogynists and homophobes. The multi-user, gender-inclusive washroom is like a watering hole on the Serengeti. Whether you are a giraffe having a drink or a human with their pants down, everyone wants to be safe. Attitudes must evolve so the LGBTQ+ community can tend to their biological needs safely, equally, and with dignity.
Washroom usage design denies equal access to washrooms. Using a washroom with or without an attendant, changing a child or adult diaper with dignity intact is a human rights issue. Diaper change tables are absent from the majority of male washrooms, which reinforces outdated patriarchal ideas of parenting.
People with disabilities, those living with chronic illness, the elderly, and children may need to relieve themselves more frequently and with greater urgency. Like many people with disabilities, I plan my outings based on washroom availability. I cannot always wait, find, or want to make a purchase in order to use the restroom. Juggling mobility aids and a hot drink is impossible. Outings can get cut short because of ‘accidents’.
Stalls are problematic because I need to wash after relieving myself. The proximity of the toilet to the sink, paper towels, and garbage receptacles are factors in my bathroom choices. This limits where I go or how long I can stay away from home. Some cultural groups and the elderly have similar design requirements, which are not accommodated in schools and multi-user washroom design. Thankfully, grocery stores typically have a self-contained washroom.
The urban homeless population is routinely denied access to safe drinking water, toilets, and washing facilities. Store and restaurant owners ban them from their premises and refuse their requests to use the washroom. It is undignified to relieve yourself in an alley. Clean underwear and feminine hygiene products are constantly needed by shelters for distribution. As Taunya Lovell Banks (2020) noted, public washrooms are disappearing and with their disappearance discrimination and social inequality increases. “We’re all human; we all have to go to the bathroom somewhere,” Anya Zoledziowski, 2020.