Paris Urinals for Women

Pollee Naked
(Paris, France)

When the weather plays along, Parisians love to gather around the St. Martin Canal to wind down and enjoy a few bottles of wine. But once the need for the bathroom kicks in, many women are faced with a dilemma: while there are urinals around for men, women have to either search for a bartender nice enough to let them use the pub's bathroom or resort to taking care of business out in the open.

To solve the problem, a French woman suggested the installation of about a dozen urinals for women.

She has submitted her idea to "Budget participatif", a Paris initiative inviting citizens to create project ideas aimed at improving the city.

The open-air urinals she has in mind are created by Danish company Peebetter and are worth around €5,000 each. They can accommodate up to four women at a time and are used in “a semi-squat stance that requires no touching”, according to the company's website.

The so-called "Pollee" urinals come in three different variations. "Pollee Shy" offers the most coverage, "Pollee Topless" is a little less discreet and "Pollee Naked" for the "free spirits" offers by-standers a full frontal view of what's happening in the urinal.

Response to the idea has been mixed.