Stephen Shen, Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) minister in Taiwan has said that sitting on the toilet like women do creates a cleaner environment, the BBC News reported.
Officials are to ask local governments this week to put up notices in public places advising men to sit.
However, the minister's remark sparked an online debate with many women in social media websites favouring the suggestion but men saying that it would be hard to stop doing what they are used to, the report said.
EPA officials have insisted that it can be done. They confirmed that Shen himself practices what he suggests - at home and while using public toilets.
"We want to learn from Japan and Sweden," Yuan Shaw-jing, EPA director general of environmental sanitation and toxic substance maintenance, said.
"In Japan, we heard 30 per cent of the men sit," he was quoted as saying by the BBC.
Inspectors regularly grade Taiwan's estimated 1,00,000 public toilets, with most of receiving high marks.
EPA officials said there is room for improvement, as some toilets are still smelly because of urine spatter.
While the agency said that it cannot force men to change their habits, it will ask local governments this week to put notices in public toilets with the suggestion.
