subject: Two Years of Our Life in the Bathroom [print this page] Two Years of Our Life in the Bathroom Two Years of Our Life in the Bathroom
The average person uses a toilet about six to eight times a day, as many as 2,920 times per year.
By age 80 we will have taken over 200,000 trips to the toilet and spent two years of our life in restrooms.
These factoids come courtesy of Kathryn Anthony, who is, in her own words, the only female full professor in the School of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Anthony also is an expert in gender-based inequities in building design.
Kathryn Anthony only female full professor of architecture at Urbana-Champaign you are to be commended.
When Anthony's niche expertise thrust her into the national spotlight an appearance May 12 before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee she abided by the number one rule of public relations: be interesting! She prepared for the hearing by marshalling her arguments, backed them up with numbers, formed an opinion and expressed it fearlessly.
In a refreshing bit of candor, Anthony told committee lawmakers her invitation to appear before them was "one of the highlights of my professional career." She had been called to Washington to testify on a legislative proposal known as the Bipartisan Restroom Gender Parity in Federal Buildings Act.
The congressional proposal drew national media attention this week and has been dubbed by some as the "Potty Parity" bill. Here are some other gems from Anthony's testimony:
All too often we (women) watch our male counterparts zip in and out of the restroom in a flash, while at the ladies' room, we are stuck waiting in long lines. And the men in our life have been stuck waiting for us. Why?
Forcing half the population to wait in line for restrooms is a subtle yet powerful form of gender discrimination.
Even in the U.S. Capitol, until recently, Congresswomen (members of the House of Representatives) and women Senators were forced to use restrooms far away from the House and Senate floors, causing some to miss important votes.
We (the United States) lag far behind countries like Japan where clean, safe, available restrooms are integral parts of the urban landscape.
In terms of women's to men's restroom facilities, some states mandate ratios of up to 4:1.
If it were up to me, constructing cutting-edge, well-designed, safe 21st century public restrooms should be part of another national stimulus package.
The Washington Post didn't give much coverage to Anthony's views, but did provide a few interesting observations of its own. Despite the "urgency" of the issue, only eight of 41 committee members actually attended the hearing. Also, proposed requirements of the legislation would apply only to federal buildings, not ballparks and theatres where it would be most helpful.
And of the many and diverse explanations as to why women need more restrooms, this from Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District of Columbia's congressional representative: "Women spend longer in there" because "we have to tend to our looks as well."
