Are Men’s Human Rights Being Violated in Korea By Female Restroom Cleaners?

This is something that can take people new to South Korea by surprise.  Personally I have spent so much time in South Korea that I hardly even notice the female restroom cleaners when they walk in, much less feel my human rights are being violated:

Men’s toilets in Korea have been places of embarrassment and the subject of debate for years, especially among non-Koreans, because of women cleaners there.

Whenever females enter, wearing rubber gloves and holding brushes to scrub urinals and toilet seats, male patrons cannot help feeling embarrassed.

The cleaners, mostly ajumma ― Korean jargon for tough middle-aged women ― apparently cause serious mental discomfort to men who cannot handle the awkward situation.

Some patrons are philosophical with the attitude that the women are simply doing their jobs. But other patrons claim the presence of the women is violating the men’s human rights.

“I haven’t seen this trend in other countries, but the fact that women clean men’s toilets, while men are busy urinating, is a violation of basic human rights,” said South African Francois Pieters, who has lived in Korea for almost four years and was shocked to experience such an encounter on Sep. 7.

“Most of the foreign men in Korea, if not all of them, are shocked by this and yes, we do feel violated.”

Pieters claimed he went to a toilet in Seolleung Station in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, to change clothes for a wedding, but could not do so because two cleaning women were there.

“If they can put up a sign, like almost all of the other countries I’ve been to, then that would not violate anybody’s human rights,” Pieters said.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.