The Safety of Public Toilets (Online)
Taught by Kimberly Worsham
Kimberly Worsham is a water & sanitation (WASH) specialist in the development industry and founder of FLUSH. She discovered a passion for toilets early as a child who always needed to inspect restaurant facilities, but was reminded of that love while consulting in India, and has continued her love by working on projects in NYC, Australia, Cambodia, Ghana, and Kenya. In different lives, she has worked in local government, corporate marketing, and even taught math in Rwanda. She received her MPA and B.Sc in business at NYU, and a Masters in Integrated Water Management from the University of Queensland as an International WaterCentre Scholar.
Public toilets are what help give people the ability to take care of themselves while out in the public sphere, and we all need them. While they may not be new, they still are not as common as many as we would like, and different kinds of people may not feel safe using public toilets. Has this always been the case?
This class will explore how public toilets should be safe spaces for everyone. With a social justice focus, we will learn a brief history of public toilets and whether everyone used them in distant and not-so-distant times. We will also learn about who public toilets have really been built for, and what groups still struggle to find safety in public bathrooms, with a focus on the US and good examples in Europe and Asia we could try. We will finish up by understanding how we can keep public toilets safe - and open! - during public health crises such as a pandemic. The class will be partly interactive, so bring all of your most curious questions and tales.
