for discrimination over access to public toilets, complaining that women must pay to use cubicles while men can use urinals for free. "I was in a park with a friend and we both needed to use the bathroom. He could go for free, but I had to pay 50 cents. I thought to myself: How is that possible?" Melanie Gradik, 27, told media. "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," she said. It's not about the money, Gradik added: "It's a small thing, but it's also an example of how women are treated unequally in everyday life."
Gradik has filed a legal complaint against the municipality, arguing that exclusively charging women for access to public toilets violates the city's anti-discrimination laws. According to her lawyer, Petra Laback, the fact that some public facilities offer free urinals for men creates inequality between the genders. "Men have an additional free alternative, women do not," she said. If Gradik wins her case, it could set a precedent across Austria, the lawyer said, adding, "This will certainly have an impact on other municipalities."
Vienna currently has 168 publicly managed toilet facilities, 139 of which are free to use. According to the city authorities, the 29 facilities that charge a fee do so because they employ toilet attendants. "In very busy locations with intensive use, it is necessary for organisational reasons to ensure supervision in order to guarantee proper use and cleanliness," Sandra Holzinger, a spokeswoman for the municipality, said. "In these 29 facilities, a usage fee of 50 cents must be paid for the use of cubicles by people of all genders," she said, adding that urinals were additionally provided "in order to prevent fouling caused by urinating in public spaces".
For law professor Anna Gamper of the University of Innsbruck, this system raises serious questions about equality. Under Austrian law, "a distinction between men and women may only be made if there is a special, objective justification for it", she said. In the case of public toilets, such a justification "does not appear to exist" since the cost of building, maintaining and cleaning cubicles and urinals is basically the same, the professor said. In their coalition agreement for governing the city, the Social Democrats and liberals pledged to expand public toilet provision and examine whether public toilets could be made free for everyone.