Berlin's plan to introduce 'pissoirs': stand-up urinals for women

City officials in Berlin are hoping to solve the problem of lengthy female toilet queues by introducing gender-neutral urinals.

In a 99-page policy document titled "The Toilet Concept for Berlin", the left-wing coalition governing the German capital committed itself to pissoirs - public urinals - for both men and women, reports the Daily Mail.

The paper explains: "In the future urinals which can be used by all genders should be offered."

It was justified as an enterprise because it represented a "continuation of the [toilet] concept and an opportunity for Berlin to show that it is innovative", according to a translation on the BBC.

Other features to be included in the German toilet of the future are a well-lit exterior, an emergency alarm, gender-neutral signs and clear visibility at the entrance.

But were the urinals to go ahead, they would not be the first in the world to cater to women as well as men.

Earlier in the year, a woman in Switzerland posted a tweet after using a female pissoir in a theatre in Winterthur, which is in Zurich canton.

#fail #Hilfe #wc Das ist doch was -"Frauenpissoir" Gesehen & erprobt im Casino Theater 🎭Winterthur 🚽 pic.twitter.com/cr8YnhIcz4

— Tanja Janezic (@Mala3012) March 1, 2017

She said she'd "tried and tested" the novel facility, adding: "That is something".

But she did add the hashtags "fail" and "Hifle" (help) to her tongue-in-cheek post.

Meanwhile Professor Mete Demiriz of Gelsenkirchen University said that because women often flush the loo three times during a visit, gender-neutral urinals could save water.

He told the website jetzt that a design team of his is working on a pissoir with a cubicle and a door.

It is also lower down and allows the woman to have her back against the wall.