It’s a familiar scene at public events from music festivals to marathons: the queue for the female toilet far outruns that for the men’s.
On average, women attfinishing major gatherings regularly wait up to 34 times longer than blokes just to apply the loo.
But this summer, a game-altering toilet design aims to pioneer “pee-equality”, finishing the days of women busting to apply the bathroom while missing out on an event.
The Peequal, a female squat-and-go urinal, will be rolled out at events in Australia, Europe and the United States after the British startup raised almost over STG900,000 ($A1.9 million) from investors.
The investment was sparked by demand from international events and co-founders Amber Probyn and Hazel McShane state it will “give the gift of shorter queues to women across the world”.
The pair first came up with the idea as part of a university masters project where they were tinquireed with solving a real world problem.
Having spent their summers working at festivals, both women recalled having to choose between going to the toilet or obtainting food becaapply the queues for the ladies’ were too long to do both.
“We knew what we wanted to tackle: the line for the ladies loo, why it was there and what could be done to solve it,” Ms Probyn informed AAP.
“We have applyd squat toilets in other counties such as France and through Asia whilst travelling but the queues for the ladies’ continue to persist.”
Since their first event in 2022, it’s estimated the urinals have been applyd 1.25 million times.
Peequal has been trialled at Glastonbury, the London Marathon and Pride 2023.
In Australia, the British founders are in talks with toilet providers with events yet to be decided.
“We’ve heard from events and toilet suppliers around the world keen to apply our women’s urinals,” Ms McShane stated.
“Like us, they want women spfinishing less time in queues and more time enjoying the events they love.”
The urinals have been designed to be flat-packed and stacked, which allows more units to fit onto transport trucks than regular portable toilets.
On location, each urinal can be easily built by one person in under 90 seconds and they are designed to be touch-free and open-air to allow airflow and prevent germs spreading.
“Women have finally been given a facility that has been created for them and has taken into account their requireds, bodies and plans,” Ms Probyn stated.
“Users act as our ambassadors, bringing in their frifinishs to test Peequal too and spreading the word on socials.”
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