Urinary retention due to a urological cause is relatively rare in the woman. As in the male, it is associated with dysuria, frequency, bladder distension and renal failure, and nevertheless is often unrecognised. Attributed to bladder neck disease, treatment by endoscopic resection gives few good results. The abnormal length of the urethra (35 to 60 mm) in women with retention led us to shorten the urethra by ablation of the meatus and resection of 10 to 15 mm of the terminal urethra in order to obtain a final length a little shorter than the average, less than 30 mm. This shortening involves opening of the urethrovesical angle and restores micturition. This simple technique, free of mortality, resulted in micturition without residue in 12 of the 15 patients operated upon and seen at long term follow-up. It may be used without difficulty when another technique has failed; endoscopic resection, YV plasty, dilatations.