Woman sues entire capital city over ‘sexist’ toilet rules
There are few worse things on holiday than needing the toilet in a public place and realising you need to pay for the privilege.
However, that's apparently not something that affects everyone, particularly in one area of Europe where men can relieve themselves for free while women are forced to splash their hard-earned cash just to use a public toilet, which also probably has a grim hand dryer.
Situations like these do little to undermine notions of a patriarchal society and Melanie Gradik was less than impressed when she was asked to pay 50 cents in a park in Vienna, Austria, while her male friend was able to go without paying.
The 27-year-old said: "I was in a park with a friend and we both needed to use the bathroom.
Advert
"He could go for free, but I had to pay 50 cents. I thought to myself, 'how is that possible?'
"I want everyone to be able to use the bathroom on an equal footing. Either we all pay 50 cents or no one pays 50 cents.
"It's a small thing, but it's also an example of how women are treated unequally in everyday life."
She was well and truly peed off about the situation and her number one priority was to ensure that the city made a change, so she's filed a legal complaint against Vienna itself, arguing that exclusively charging women for access to public toilets violates the city's anti-discrimination laws.
It's a fair point that men usually have two options when they head to the bathroom, which is either using a urinal or a toilet, whereas women need to sit on a toilet seat or be forced to squat in a very uncomfortable position.
'Men have an additional free alternative, women do not,' she said.
Her lawsuit might well 'have an impact on other municipalities' who have a similar approach to public toilets according to her lawyer Petra Laback, who suggested that it could even lead to changes across the whole of Austria.
Sandra Holzinger, a spokeswoman for the municipality, said: "In very busy locations with intensive use it is necessary for organisational reasons to ensure supervision in order to guarantee proper use and cleanliness.
"In these 29 facilities, a usage fee of 50 cents must be paid for the use of cubicles by people of all genders."
She added that urinals were introduced to ensure the prevention of fouling which is caused by urinating in public spaces.
However, experts would probably suggest that urinals and toilets have similar costs when it comes to maintaining them and the amount of water they use up.
Sadly, this is not the only case of financial discrimination against women, who have long appealed for free sanitary products in an attempt to 'end period poverty', as well as the much-discussed gender pay gap.
While we won't be saying goodnight Vienna from Ms Gradik's lawsuit alone, you might want to take a stand by refusing to pay to take a seat in the city's public toilets.
James Moorhouse