Potty parity is equal or equitable provision of public toilet facilities for females and males within a public space. Parity can be defined by equal floorspace or by number of fixtures within the washrooms, sometimes adjusted for the longer average time taken and more frequent visits to the washroom for females, among other factors. Historically, public toilets have been divided by sex since the Victorian era. Male cubicles and facilities were typically greater in number until the late 1980s and early 2010s, depending on the country and building. Current ratios range from 1:1 to 4:1 female–to–male. Portable, accessible, and vehicle toilets are commonly gender-neutral. Outside of these contexts, they are present in some European areas and university campuses in the US. Multiple studies have found that waiting times for females can be reduced by the use of properly designed washrooms.
Definition of parity Parity may be defined in various ways in relation to facilities in a building. The simplest is as equal floorspace for male and female washrooms. Since men's and boys' bathrooms include urinals, which take up less space than stalls, this still results in more facilities for males. An alternative parity is by number of fixtures within washrooms. However, since females on average spend more time in washrooms more males are able to use more facilities per unit time. More recent parity regulations therefore require more fixtures for females to ensure that the average time spent waiting to use the toilet is the same for females as for males, or to equalise throughputs of male and female toilets. The lack of diaper-changing stations for babies in men's restrooms has been listed as a potty parity issue by fathers. Some jurisdictions have considered legislation mandating diaper-changing stations in men's restrooms.
Sex differences Women and girls often spend more time in washrooms than men and boys, for both physiological and cultural reasons. The requirement to use a cubicle rather than a urinal means urination takes longer and hand washing must be done more thoroughly. Females also make more visits to washrooms. Urinary tract infections and incontinence are more common in females. Pregnancy, menstruation, breastfeeding, and diaper-changing increase usage. The elderly, who are disproportionately female, take longer and more frequent bathroom visits. A variety of female urinals and personal funnels have been invented to make it easier for females to urinate standing up. None has become widespread enough to affect policy formation on potty parity. John F. Banzhaf III, a law professor at George Washington University, calls himself the "father of potty parity." Banzhaf argues that to ignore potty parity; that is, to have merely equal facilities for males and females; constitutes a form of sex discrimination against women. In the 1970s the Committee to End Pay Toilets in America made a similar point: that allowing toilet providers to charge for the use of a cubicle while urinals required no money was unfair to females. Several authors have identified potty parity as a potential rallying issue for feminism, saying all women can identify with it.
History and developments Public toilets have historically been divided along the lines of sex, race, class, disability, and other distinctions. In apartheid South Africa and the Jim Crow American South, toilets were segregated by both sex and race. During the Victorian era in the United Kingdom, toilets were segregated by both sex and class.
U.S.
The first bathroom for congresswomen in the United States Capitol was opened in 1962. Segregation of toilet facilities by race was outlawed in the United States by the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Provision of disabled-access facilities was mandated in federal buildings by the Architectural Barriers Act of 1968 and in private buildings by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. No federal legislation relates to provision of facilities for women. The banning of pay toilets came about because women/girls had to pay to urinate whereas men/boys only had to pay to defecate. In many older buildings, little or no provision was made for women because few would work in or visit them. Increased gender equality in employment and other spheres of life has impelled change. Until the 1980s, building codes for stadiums in the United States stipulated more toilets for men, on the assumption that most sports fans were male. In 1973, to protest the lack of female bathrooms at Harvard University, women poured jars of fake urine on the steps of the university's Lowell Hall, a protest Florynce Kennedy thought of and participated in. The first "Restroom Equity" Act in the United States was passed in California in 1989. It was introduced by then-Senator Arthur Torres after several long waits for his wife to return from the bathroom. Facilities for female U.S. senators on the Senate Chamber level were first provided in 1992. Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee was built in 1999 in compliance with the Tennessee Equitable Restrooms Act, providing 288 fixtures for men and 580 for women. The Tennessean reported fifteen-minute waits at some men's rooms, compared to none at women's rooms. The Act was amended in 2000 to empower the state architect to authorize extra men's rooms at stadiums, horse shows and auto racing venues. In 2011 the U.S. House of Representatives got its first women's bathroom near the chamber (Room H-211 of the U.S. Capitol). It is only open to women lawmakers, not the public.
Regulations Current laws in the United Kingdom require a 1:1 female–male ratio of restroom space in public buildings. The International Building Code requires range of female to male ratio of toilets depending on the building occupancy. Most occupancies require 1:1 ratio, but Assembly uses can require up to 2:1 ratio of female to male toilets. New York City Council passed a law in 2005 requiring roughly this in all public buildings. An advisory ruling had been passed in 2003. U.S. state laws vary between 1:1, 3:2, and 2:1 ratios. In theaters, the Uniform Plumbing Code specifies a 2:1 total fixture ratio (stalls and urinals combined) for smaller occupancy theaters, and varies between 1:1 and 2:1 depending on theater size, as the requirements for both genders scale at different intervals.
Gender-neutral toilets
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