GUANGZHOU - Women in the city won't feel cramped for space in restrooms for much longer as the authorities have decided to build larger women's toilets.

According to a notice issued by the urban management department, the size of a women's toilet must be at least 1.5 times that of a men's toilet when the city builds new restrooms or renovates old ones in future.

Meanwhile all women's toilets will be equipped with make-up mirrors, tap water, toilet paper and other facilities.

The notice came after many members of the Guangzhou city committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) asked for measures to improve women's toilets during the session of the city-level advisory body in February.

Han Zhipeng, a local CPPCC member, said building larger women's facilities showed the government's care for female residents.

"It benefits both men and women," Han said.

He said he was once embarrassed by not being able to use a men's room at a forum because it had to serve women temporarily because of a shortage of women's facilities.

Su Zequn, executive vice-mayor of Guangzhou, urged the urban management department to study the issue on March 8, International Women's Day.

Su promised to build even more women's toilets in the following months to help solve the problem. He said he has received many complaints from the public on the shortage of women's toilets.

Xu Guilin, an urban management official in charge of toilet construction, said his department has been trying to build larger women's toilets in Guangzhou in recent years.

"Larger women's toilets would certainly help ease the great pressure for women's lavatories," Xu said.

Many local residents, particularly women, have welcomed the notice to build larger women's toilets.

Wang Fangbing, a local white-collar worker, said the notice was a people-oriented move.

"Guangzhou does not have enough women's toilets," she said. "There are often long lines of women waiting to use toilets while men's are relatively vacant in many public places, particularly during peak hour."

The city now has about 800 public toilets and plans to build another 700. But most of the existing ones are the same size for both genders, even though women usually spend more time in the toilet.

According to a recent survey conducted by Guangzhou department of environment sanitation, a woman usually takes more than 2 minutes 10 seconds for a toilet visit, while a man takes about 45 seconds a visit.

China Daily