Study on all-gender toilets to create inclusive toilet environments in educational facilities

2022年8月22日更新

Project Summary

Principal Investigator	FUJIYAMA Mamiko (Education and Research Department Center for Interdisciplinary AI and Data Science)
Co-investigators	NAGASAWA Natsuko (Faculty of Core Research Natural Science Division) SORADA Haruka (Graduate School of Humanities and Sciences, Cooperative Major in Human Centered Engineering) YOSHIDA Maho (Human Life and Environmental Science, Human-Environmental Science)
Research period	FY 2022 -
SDGs Goals	5（Gender Equality） 11（Sustainable Cities and Communities）

Outline of Research

Toilet spaces have often been designed by referencing long-standing architectural and planning standards, and minor user concerns have been disregarded as infrequent issues. However, a gender-sensitive perspective has recently begun considering fully private or shared toilet spaces. Toilets in educational facilities are part of school and workplace spaces used by specific groups of people. Accordingly, toilet spaces in educational facilities are associated with many delicate issues that differ from those of toilet spaces in public facilities used by an unspecified number of people. It has been pointed out that the installation of all-gender toilets in educational facilities can lead to significant psychological hurdles related to hygiene and safety on the part of women. In addition, differences in thinking based on gender can have a significant impact on the future development of this field.
This study aims to clarify the relationship between various issues related to the installation of all-gender toilets, verify the spatial configuration of toilet spaces from the perspective of gendered innovation, and propose all-gender toilets in educational facilities to create an inclusive toilet environment.

Research Reports

＜Project Summary＞
For many years, toilet spaces have been designed based on the number of users divided by biological sexes in accordance with the building planning science standard of providing an adequate number of toilets based on excretion frequency. As a result, spatial consideration is rarely given to infrequent gender issues (e.g., use by parents and small children of different genders, use by people who are uncomfortable with conventional gender-segregated toilets due to gender identity issues, use by people receiving assistance from the opposite sex, etc.), and this has been overlooked despite the efforts of social minorities. In recent years, as a response to diversity, including gender considerations, studies have begun considering public toilets that can be used by all genders, such as fully private or all-gender toilets. However , some users who are accustomed to gender-segregated toilet spaces have voiced their concerns regarding the transition to all-gender public toilets. It is necessary to understand how individuals perceive toilet spaces differently, particularly from a gender standpoint. Therefore, this study aims to clarify the relationship between inclusive toilet environment issues and spatial configuration from a gendered innovation perspective.

＜Research Reports＞
This study examines the potential of inclusive spaces for public toilets as a model case for adapting “Gendered innovation” to design spaces. Gendered innovation is an approach to research and development that considers gender perspectives, such as differences in physique, body structure and function, age-related changes, and social and cultural factors. This year, the research focused on differences in environmental psychology and behavior in public toilet spaces in an effort to clarify psychological acceptance differences. A web-based survey was conducted to determine the actual conditions of use, psychology, and behavior of unisex public toilets in Japan. In addition, differences in the environmental and psychological evaluation structure of unisex public toilets based on biological sex differences and gender were investigated using a qualitative survey employing the rating grid method.

REPORTS
- Reports（FY2023）
- Reports（FY2022）