'Female fun tax': Women to spend 10 million hours in summer festival toilet queues, research suggests
The long time spent waiting for toilets has been dubbed the “female fun tax”.
Women will waste an estimated 10 million hours queueing for toilets at festivals this summer, according to the creator of the UK’s first women’s urinals.
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Dubbed the “female fun tax”, these 10 million hours are equivalent to 14 lifetimes or more than the work hours needed to build the Empire State Building.
Amber Probyn co-founded Peequal and developed the toilets, which are said to be three times faster than traditional portable toilets.
They have been used more than one million times since 2022, cutting queues at dozens of events, from Glastonbury and Shambala to Pride events and Download Festival.
The Bristol-based start-up’s research shows that women on average queue for an hour per day at festivals.
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They said that UK Music estimates that 6.5 million people attended music festivals in 2022.
And assuming 50% of festival-goers are women, and the average festival length is three days, then that creates 9,750,000 hours spent in queues
“We’ve found the average woman queues for more than an hour every day at festivals. This female fun tax simply should not exist in 2026,” Ms Probyn said.
“These women should be out enjoying the amazing events they paid to attend, not missing the headliner while they queue.”
At Sunday’s TCS London Marathon, Peequal unveiled its next generation of women’s urinals – its most sustainable, private and easiest to use yet.
The new urinals were developed after two years of research with women, festival managers, cleaning staff and haulage companies.
The urinals’ flatpack, tessellating design means 56 urinals fit on one 44-tonne lorry.
“Our next-generation urinals will get women out of queues and back to the events they love, all while making events more sustainable,” Ms Probyn added.
“This summer, let’s end the female fun tax.”
Peequal’s urinals were at 25 large-scale events in 2025 and are headed to 40 in 2026.