Sex Differences
Women spend more time in washrooms than men, for physiological and cultural reasons. The requirement to use a cubicle rather than a urinal means urination takes longer; twice as long on average in studies. Women also make more visits to washrooms. Urinary tract infections and incontinence are more common in women. Pregnancy, menstruation, breastfeeding, and diaper-changing increase usage. The elderly, who are disproportionately female, take longer and more frequent bathroom visits.
A variety of modified urinals and personal funnels has been invented to make it easier for women 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 men and women, constitutes a form of sex discrimination against women. Several authors have identified potty parity as a potential rallying issue for feminism, since all women can identify with it.
Read more about this topic: Potty Parity
Famous quotes containing the word differences:
“The extent to which a parent is able to see a child’s world through that child’s eyes depends very much on the parent’s ability to appreciate the differences between herself and her child and to respect those differences. Your own children need you to accept them for who they are, not who you would like them to be.”
—Lawrence Balter (20th century)