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In 1987, a man, a woman, and their daughter attended a Tchaikovsky concert at the Hollywood Bowl. The most notable thing about their outing, all these years later, is something that actually wasn't the least bit unusual: The two women waited in an interminably long line for the bathroom, while the man did not.
What separates their uncomfortable experience from those of innumerable others is that the man in their party was a California state senator. After witnessing just how long his family members had to wait, he introduced legislation to guarantee the state's women more toilets.
In the three decades since, dozens of cities and states have joined the cause of "potty parity," the somewhat trivializing nickname for the goal of giving men and women equal access to public toilets. These legislative efforts, along with changes to plumbing codes that altered the ratio of men's to women's toilets, have certainly helped imbalances in wait times, but they haven't come close to resolving them.
"It still remains a huge problem today, overall," says Kathryn Anthony, an architecture professor at the University of Illinois who has studied the issue for more than a decade. The issue persists for many reasons: the exigencies of real estate, the building codes that govern construction, and, of course, sexism.
Source: https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2019/01/women-men-bathroom-lines-wait/580993/
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Monday February 04 2019, @07:44AM (5 children)
TFA got to the point. Most architects are male. Most of the people who pay architects are male, and the rest are tightwads. No one is willing to PAY FOR the facilities that women demand. There are several ways to fix this.
1. Architects must be female, and/or employs a "lead feminist consultant".
2. Purchasing agents who contract for new construction must be female, and/or employs a "lead feminist consultant".
3. All real estate agents must be female. No consultants, just give the profession to women.
4. Rewrite local, state, and national codes to specify 4 women's stalls for every fixture in male's rooms. (count stalls and urinals, of course)
5. Rewrite codes to require a "family room" in every building with public access. (In addition to #4)
6. Hire Potty Police to put an end to women socializing in the women's room.
7. Put an end to private restrooms for management and office workers - make them share the same facilities that the working class uses.
As with most other first world problems, the problem never gets fixed, because no one has the will to fix them. Which indicates that there is no real problem after all. I don't like WalMart, but maybe they are doing something right? I have never seen a line of fifty women waiting to get in a Walmart restroom. I do notice that "family room" every time I'm in a WalMart. There is something right about their setup.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2) by bradley13 on Monday February 04 2019, @12:51PM (3 children)
@Runaway: I think you forgot the /sarc tag, but your proposals are so over-the-top that I finally assume sarcasm. Four women's stalls for every male fixture of whatever kind? Hire "potty police"? Please tell me you're joking...
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday February 04 2019, @02:28PM (2 children)
Not really joking at all. The potty police IS "over the top", I don't think anyone, anywhere, would stand for it. Not even in Soviet Russia! But, the rest? Why not four stalls in the women's room, for each fixture in the men's room? I never wait in line for the restroom, why should women?
One alternative I didn't mention: eliminate restrooms, and require bushes out side every place of business. We all stand or squat behind a bush when we answer the call of nature! You can't get any more natural than that, can you? Everyone takes a little gardening trowel with them, to turn the soil, eliminating the stench.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 04 2019, @07:39PM (1 child)
I don't think this would work well in MN in winter.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday February 04 2019, @08:23PM
Why not? It's amusing to write your name in the snow and then watch it steam in the frigid air.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Username on Monday February 04 2019, @01:16PM
8. Charge women per minute while in the bathroom, slide card to open stall.