World Toilet Day is celebrated to make the world understand the importance of cleanliness. The modern toilet system that we take for granted today was never available everywhere. Especially in many parts of Africa, the toilet tradition existed in a completely different form for centuries.

There was no idea of ​​separate washrooms for men and women. As surprising as this fact is, its reasons are equally interesting. Defecation was considered a natural and communal activity in many tribal communities from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania in East Africa to Nigeria, Ghana and Cameroon in West Africa.

Even the word toilet had no stable meaning. In villages, people used to go to designated open spaces, community areas built on the banks of forests or crops. There was no male-female division in these, because the society considered it completely normal.

Among major tribes such as the Maasai, Himba and Bantu, nature is considered equivalent to worship. In such a situation, defecation was also a part of natural activity, which was not considered necessary to hide. However, they also had some strict rules of their own, like defecating around sacred trees, water sources or tribal meeting places was strictly prohibited.

Punishments were given for breaking these rules, but there was no punishment for the absence of separate male and female toilets, because the concept of it did not exist.

Punishments were also social in nature, such as being excluded from communal food for a few days, paying a symbolic fine or making sacred rituals be performed. Some special areas were arranged for women, but it was not divided into separate rooms like modern toilets.

Gender-based toilet systems began in Africa when European colonialists established settlements there. During the British, French and Belgian rule, boards of Men and Women started being installed in schools, hospitals and government buildings. This system gradually spread in cities, while in rural areas the practice of community toilets or open defecation continues even today.