海角大神

Qian Min, an on-site supervisor for public toilets, has long gone out of her way to help women avoid lengthy lines.

鈥淚f they wanted to use the men鈥檚 room, I would help them guard the door,鈥� she says, knowing firsthand what it鈥檚 like to be in their position. 鈥淪ometimes I鈥檝e had to wait for 45 minutes to an hour myself.鈥�

Helping women sneak into the men鈥檚 room will be a thing of the past at Ms. Qin鈥檚 new posting: Shanghai鈥檚 first all-gender public toilet. The bathroom is intended to help reduce waiting times for women, who have long faced inadequate public facilities in cities across China.

Ms. Qian says she hopes the new bathroom will help fix that. It鈥檚 scheduled to open Saturday in celebration of the third annual , which seeks to raise international awareness about insufficient access to sanitation.聽

The male-to-female toilet disparity is a problem worldwide. Men鈥檚 facilities are usually equipped with urinals in addition to toilets, increasing their capacity to handle traffic.聽

鈥淭his is an experiment,鈥� says Qian, adding that the Shanghai government will build more if the public response to it is positive. 鈥淚 think it will work.鈥�

The bathroom is situated in a scenic riverside park near Shanghai鈥檚 financial district. In addition to 10 all-gender stalls, it has a separate men-only room with four urinals, and another for people with disabilities and those with children.

Fishermen on the opposite bank have few opinions about the new facility. Whereas the mere mention of the words 鈥渁ll-gender,鈥� 鈥渦nisex,鈥� or 鈥済ender neutral鈥� in the United States might elicit a passionate response about transgender rights, the concept is met with a shrug by a man who gives his name as Mr. Wang. 聽

鈥淭here鈥檚 nothing unusual about it,鈥� he says as he baits his hook with a worm. 鈥淚鈥檇 use it, no problem.鈥�

But whether women feel it鈥檚 safe and private enough to use remains to be seen. 聽

鈥淲hy don鈥檛 they divide men and women?鈥� asks Gu Guixiang, a nearby female resident. 鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 feel comfortable using it.鈥�

Women鈥檚 rights activists argue that it鈥檚 waiting times, not toilet seats, that should be addressed equally. Li Tingting, a leading women鈥檚 rights activist in Beijing, says women spend an average of 89 seconds on each bathroom visit, compared with 39 seconds for men.

'Occupy Men's Rooms'

In 2012, a group of young women launched the 鈥淥ccupy Men鈥檚 Rooms鈥� movement to highlight the disparity. Two years later, 23 Chinese students, architects, and engineers聽petitioned聽the government to revise draft legislation that called for 1.5 women鈥檚 toilets for every men鈥檚 toilet. They wanted the ratio raised to 2 to 1.

On Thursday, their demands were partially answered. The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development would be 3 to 2 in most public areas, and 2 to 1 in heavily trafficked spots. It will go into effect Dec. 1.

Ms. Li, who was detained last year聽while planning a campaign against sexual harassment on public transportation, says she is emboldened by how much progress has been made for by the 鈥淥ccupy鈥� campaign for women. Now she wants to help transgender people achieve similar access to public toilets.

鈥淚n China, LGBT issues are still not very mainstream,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not something most Chinese pay attention to.鈥� 聽

Many urban Chinese are well aware of the lack of public toilets for women, including men who have to wait for their female friends or partners. But educating them about the challenges transgender people face will require more work, says Yang Gang of the Beijing Gender Health Education Institute.

As the manager of the institute鈥檚 all-gender toilet project, Mr. Yang lobbies companies and private businesses around Beijing to establish all-gender bathrooms and to hang signs to indicate they have done so. The project has signed up nearly 40 businesses 鈥� mostly bars, restaurants, and nongovernmental organizations 鈥� since launching in May. Yang says he hopes to double that number soon.

鈥淭he key is to raise people鈥檚 awareness about gender identity,鈥� he says. 鈥淢y hope is that this project will help start a conversation.鈥�

Shanghai isn鈥檛 the first Chinese city to install an all-gender public toilet. The southwestern city of and the northeastern city of have also opened them in recent years, according to Chinese media reports. Yang says he has yet to see the Beijing government build one in a public location in the capital. 聽