It wasn’t until 2013 that Singapore’s National Environment Agency (NEA) updated its Code of Practice on Environmental Health. From June 2014, new buildings had to raise the ratio of female to male toilets from 1:1 to 5:3.
But since the update applied only to new buildings, older ones were stuck with outdated designs such as squat toilets – a feature carried over from early Housing Development Board flats that many women avoid today, adding to the wait.
SACRIFICING TOILET SPACE FOR REVENUE
You would think that newer malls and offices built after the guidelines were revised would have tackled this problem. Yet long queues continue to form outside some women’s restrooms.
