Loo wars! Woman’s Hour host Emma Barnett starts debate over toilets not being designed with women in mind as she slams the BBC’s ‘unpleasant’ cramped cubicles
- The Radio 4 Woman’s Hour host snapped a photo of a BBC loo she uses ‘most days’ showing the sanitary bin pushed up close to the toilet
- Barnett, 36, added: ‘Every time most women sit on it, the sanitary towel bin will brush up against their thigh. Unpleasant and unnecessary right?’
- The post has had more than 3,000 likes and Barnett said she’s been ‘overwhelmed’ by the strong reaction to the photograph
- One woman said: ‘I wash my hands after using the loo but I can’t wash my thigh’
Radio 4 broadcaster Emma Barnett has criticised the design of toilet facilities at the BBC‘s central London offices where she works, saying they’re ‘unpleasant’.
The Woman’s Hour presenter, 36, posted a photo to her 32,900 Instagram followers saying the cubicle she uses ‘most days’ had been designed without women in mind.
The accompanying picture showed a toilet and sanitary bin cramped together, with Barnett telling her followers: ‘Every time most women sit on it, the sanitary towel bin will brush up against their thigh. Unpleasant and unnecessary right?’
It started a debate among commenters about the layout of toilets, with many claiming that loos are actually not designed with women and their needs in mind.
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Radio 4 Woman’s Hour host Emma Barnett snapped a photo of a BBC loo showing the sanitary bin pushed up close to the toilet saying that the ‘pretty new’ toilet cubicle hadn’t been designed with women in mind
The BBC confirmed to FEMAIL that the toilet cubicle was at the broadcaster’s central London offices. Barnett, 36, wrote: ‘Every time most women sit on it, the sanitary towel bin will brush up against their thigh. Unpleasant and unnecessary right?’
The presenter, whose book, Period, is out on June 24th, said the toilet, which she used often was a ‘pretty newly designed loo cubicle’.
She added: ‘If you retro fit us into design we notice.’
The BBC has confirmed to FEMAIL that the toilet in the photograph is within the broadcaster’s offices.
Responding to Barnett’s post, many agreed that toilets in general often aren’t designed with the women who use them in mind.
Striped_top_gal wrote: ‘So many times I’ve thought about this.’
cemills1973 added: ‘Yes! I notice this all the time! And the twisting to put stuff in the bin is also ridiculous! ‘
Sarafdowning penned: ‘I notice this all the time and hate it!!! I wash my hands after using the loo but I can’t wash my thigh. Thank you for talking about it publicly.’
After the photo received a strong reaction on Instagram, Barnett followed up with a second post, saying: ‘Overwhelmed by how many of you are getting in touch and really not wanting to put up with the sani bin thigh graze anymore.
‘But it does speak to a bigger picture about women, periods and our bodies.’
The broadcaster added: ‘When researching how periods have been overlooked or censored for my book, it was eye-opening to learn how some of the most modern companies, such as Apple and Fitbit, simply forgot about them.’
Earlier this month, Barnett and the BBC were accused by Irish singer Sinead O’Connor of conducting an ‘offensive and misogynistic’ interview on Woman’s Hour.
O’Connor, 54, was promoting her memoir Rememberings when she engaged in the stilted conversation with Barnett, who spoke of her reputation for being ‘a crazy lady’, while Sinead also controversially likened herself to Jamaican men.
Taking to Twitter hours after the interview aired, Sinead blasted the host and the show for various ‘abusive’ comments and also apologised if she ‘accidentally offended Jamaican men’ when she detailed having different fathers to her four children.
During the discussion, Barnett spoke of how The Telegraph’s music critic Neil McCormick, 60, had branded Sinead ‘the crazy lady in pop’s attic’ – a reference the singer later described as ‘abusive and invalidating’.