Number of female washroom spaces at Rogers Place challenged
On the opening weekend of Rogers Place, Christina Stasia stood in line for at least 25 minutes to use the washroom during the Dolly Parton concert, a wait she says could have been avoided.
"The lineup was three women deep across, then looped around the wall to get in," she said. "It was really chaotic. There was no attendant directing people and not enough stalls."
Long washroom lineups for women in arenas and concert venues are not new. But with the new downtown Edmonton arena, Stasia hoped to see a fresh solution to an old problem.
She questioned whether there are simply enough female toilets at Rogers Place.
Stasia, a member of the Women's Advocacy Voice of Edmonton (WAVE) which advises city council on gender-based issues, said the committee was never a part of arena plans and discussions, but believes it should have been.
"Women are paying the same price per ticket as men, so to miss part of the concert to bathroom breaks and spend a half hour in line is a huge disservice."
Under the Alberta Building Code, buildings with a capacity over 400 people are to have a 2:1 ratio of women's toilets to men's toilets and urinals.
At Rogers Place, that ratio is not clear.
The numbers provided to CBC News do not indicate how many toilets are for males and how many are for females.
Rogers Place said the arena contains 25 women's washrooms, 25 men's and 18 family and gender neutral washrooms.
Together, there are 182 urinals and 315 toilet stalls.
Creative solutions needed
Tang Lee, a professor of architecture at the University of Calgary, said based on these numbers it's difficult to determine if they meet code.
The concert capacity of 20,734 would help determine how many washrooms spaces are needed, but not how many specifically for women, he said.
No one from Rogers Place or the City of Edmonton was made available to respond to questions.
Stasia wonders if the arena plans could have been more creative.
"I keep hearing about the scoreboard being the first of its kind. Well, surely one option could be to make the washroom signs digital, so that they keep swapping them depending on who's performing and the demographics of who was attending the concert."
Lee said that idea could work and he would like architects to be more creative with large event venues.
"That is certainly an idea that has been tried in certain places," Lee said. "The other way is to have unisex washrooms."
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