Four restaurants in the town of Pensacola, Florida, have installed new female urinals, and if they are well received, more will be installed in public places, to reduce queues for female toilets.
'The 'She-inal' resembles a urinal for men, but has a hose attached to it. Women stand in front of the urinal and pull the hose towards them' The device, called the 'She-inal', designed by Kathy Kidder Jones, resembles a urinal for men, but has a hose attached to it and is enclosed by partitions. She was inspired to draw up her plans by her irritation at long queues and unclean facilities in public toilets. Because the cubicles are narrower than traditional toilets, more can be fitted into the same space; and because users do not have to undress as much, the process is quicker and queues move faster.
Women stand in front of the urinal, pull the hose towards them and a piece of tissue (for wiping dry) drops down. When finished, the user hangs the hose up and flushes.
'It's an issue whose time has come,' says Janet Marie Smith, vice-president of planning and development for the Baltimore's Memorial Stadium, who has considered the installation of She-inals. 'It is embarrassing to see women queuing up around the corner waiting to use the restrooms.'
A Glamour magazine reporter concluded 'I found the She-inal very easy to use. It would be great for expectant mothers who find it hard to squat.' It is also expected to prove easy to use for the wheelchair-bound of both sexes and for children defeated by the height of the normal toilet seat.
The She-inal is already in use in six American states, and more have been installed in the UK and Japan. Jones' company-Urinette,Inc-now employs 13 people.
Urinette Inc., 7012 Pine Forest Road, Pensacola, FL 32526, USA (tel 904 944 9779; fax 904 944 9778).
An Eezee way to peeSummarised an extract in "tnt uk" magazine (Summer 2000, p.83); monitored for the Institute by Yvonne Ackroyd.
A South African invention, similar to the "She-inal" described above, is also aimed at allowing women to urinate standing up. The "Eezeewee" is a reusable device with a shaped plastic cup and a length of pipe. It is designed to be portable, and should therefore prove particularly useful for women who are hiking, camping, sailing, skiing etc. It took six years to develop, is patented in 106 countries, and aims to break down one of the final barriers between the sexes.
Summarised from stories in the National Enquirer (USA) and the Examiner (USA), monitored for the Institute by Roger Knights; and from a story developed from Institute information by Jonathan Sale in the Independent on Sunday.
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