New York's City Council recently passed a law requiring twice as many women's restrooms as men's in new public buildings.
Bursting your bubble and other travel lessons
It just may be the biggest stride in women's rights since we got the vote.
Dubbed the "potty parity law," the legal maneuver can't escape from bathroom humor, but it fulfills a serious need for the many women affected by a common crisis: Waiting in line for the bathroom — at the theater, at a bar, at the ballpark, at a restaurant.
When added up, how many hours have we lost waiting to use a public restroom? I'm convinced months of my own life have been thrown down the toilet, so to speak, as I've lingered in line for the loo.
Who of us of the fairer sex hasn't been there? While the men we're with waltz in an out of a public restroom with ease, in the same amount of time, we've only moved two spots up in line.
I dare not imagine what some of those ladies are actually doing in those stalls, but suffice it to say most women take far longer to use any restroom than their male counterparts. Factor in the common practice of dragging along a toddler or two into the stalls who also need to use the potty, and it makes sense that women's restroom lines are always longer than men.
There truly are potential health consequences for holding fluids in too long, not to mention the mental health impacts created by the sheer frustration of the situation.
The potty parity law is long overdue everywhere, and already adopted by Virginia, Texas, Pennsylvania and California, and, now, New York City. But even in small towns in the Basin and partially rural states like Washington, a lack of women's bathrooms becomes a problem at any major event and more are needed here. We should just make it a national law and call it good.
It's a win-win for everyone — the cost only comes to the builders of new public structures, an amount that will be minimal in comparison to the overall cost of any such building, and we've all got better things to do than wait in line for the restroom or wait for the woman you're with who's waiting in line.
Erin Stuber is the Columbia Basin Herald's managing editor.
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