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

Sheena Goodyear · CBC Radio

· Posted: Apr 30, 2024 6:48 PM EDT | Last Updated: 26 minutes ago

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, 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.

The city announced this month the toilets will finally be installed this year, beginning in October, but did not say how many. 

Neither Rooderkerk, her party or the city responded to CBC's requests for comment before deadline.

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 top 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."