She peed in an Amsterdam alley, then waged a 9-year battle for 'urination equality' | CBC Radio

· Posted: Apr 30, 2024 6:48 PM EDT | Last Updated: May 2

As It Happens6:06She peed in an Amsterdam alley, then waged a 9-year battle for 'urination equality'

Geerte Piening never planned to become the face of "urination equality" in Amsterdam.

But nearly a decade after her fine for public urination sparked a national protest movement, city officials are installing new, accessible public bathrooms — the kind you can use sitting down.

"In the beginning, it was a funny topic because it was like, 'Ah, peeing, haha!' But in the end, everyone's like, 'Oh, yeah, of course there aren't enough toilets for everyone.' So then it became a serious thing," Piening told As It Happens host Nil Köksal. 

"And now I'm also proud that the toilets are coming."

Judge says women can use urinals

In 2015, Piening was on her way home from a bar when nature called.

Everything was closed, she was far from home, and there was no public toilet within reach — so she relieved herself in an alleyway.

"I had, that night, no other choice," she said.

When she was issued a fine for €140 ($205 Cdn), she decided to fight it. At the time, she says, there were dozens of public urinals in the city, but only a handful of public toilets. 

This discrepancy, she argued, was unfair to women, wheelchair users, and anyone else who pees sitting down.

She had her day in court in 2017. The judge lowered her fine to €90 because of the delay, but refused to throw it out, arguing that she should have used a nearby urinal.

"It may not be pleasant, but it is possible," he said.

Piening disagrees. The city's street urinals, known as "pee curls," are semi-private, spiral-shaped steel structures that are perforated at the top and open at the bottom. 

"If you squat to pee, you know, you can see everything," Piening said, adding that the pee curls are notoriously "stinky."

The judge's words sparked protests — called "National Public Urinal Urinating Day" or "Power to the Peepee" — in five Netherland cities. 

Protesters attempted, without success, to use pee curls, and posted pictures of their acrobatics under the hashtag #zeikwijf, Dutch for "a woman who urinates," reports France24. Others, according to German broadcaster DW, peed directly onto copies of the judge's ruling.

Ilana Rooderkerk, then a city councillor for the liberal-democratic D66 political party, brought forward a motion to spend €4 million ($5.8 million) to expand the number of public toilets in the city. It passed in 2019, and construction was supposed to begin last year, but the public tender process caused delays, said Netherlands public broadcaster NH.

Now, the city says those toilets are finally coming, with the first slated to be installed in October.

"It took time — years — and several D66 women, and men, had to persevere through for this matter. But the results are worth it: the toilets in the parks will now be placed," D66 spokesperson Elise Moeskops said in an emailed statement.

In an email, city spokesperson Robbin van Pelt says Amsterdam has been working to expand public toilet access over the last five years by conducting research, installing mobile toilets and asking local organizations to make their bathrooms open to the general public.

Van Pelt couldn't say how many new toilets will be installed, but says they will be spread out across seven city parks.

Moeskops said this is "only the beginning" and the party will keep "drawing attention for sufficient toilets in the public space."

Wheelchair accessibility 

Accessibility advocate Josephine Rees says that while urinals are common in Amsterdam, "female-oriented, wheelchair-friendly public toilets are scarce."

"Most public toilets in Amsterdam are urinals built for men, failing to take into account the equal needs of women — let alone wheelchair users. As a woman and as a former wheelchair user myself, I notice this inequality on a daily basis," she told CBC in an email.

Rees runs the website AbleAmsterdam, where she has been blogging about wheelchair accessibility in the city since she injured her leg during a traffic collision in 2017. 

"This chronic lack of accessible public toilets can create serious problems for wheelchair users, especially given that many of Amsterdam's cafes don't have a wheelchair-friendly toilet either," she said. 

"This means there is often no alternative toilet for wheelchair users if you cannot use a public toilet and are in desperate need."

While called the city's announcement "promising," she says she's still waiting to find out whether officials will install enough toilets to make a difference.

"It remains to be seen whether women, and wheelchair users in particular, will notice a difference," she said.

Piening, meanwhile, says she never expected her late-night street pee nine years ago to become such a big deal. 

Nevertheless, she doesn't regret it. 

Asked if she will do it again, she said: "If there isn't [a toilet] close by, probably, yes."

Interview with Geerte Piening produced by Kate Swoger