There's a lot of fairly overt ways that sexism manifests itself in the world. Lower pay, people being taken less seriously because of gender, catcalling, sexual harassment, double standards. But sometimes, sexism is a little more subtle than even that. Sometimes it's just not taking a woman's needs into consideration when creating a space for just a woman.
Just like within bathrooms.
Now, to men, you might think that it makes perfect sense that the number of stalls is equivalent for many women's and men's restrooms. Equal treatment, right? And sometimes you might even tell me about the times that men's bathrooms have fewer stalls, with urinals instead. Ostensibly, it makes sense. Same number of stalls or spaces, same number of people that can use those spaces.
Wrong.
First of all, men, let me remind you of something. Women, on average, have to end up taking longer to do something like just pee. We sit down. We have to. We can't just use a urinal. Thank Mother Nature for doing that. We didn't choose it and to be honest, we wouldn't want it. But logistically, going into a stall and sitting down takes longer than standing. It just does. That also means that cleanup generally takes longer too. However, there are other considerations. And men, if you can't handle a discussion of women's biology, turn away now.
Women menstruate. Men don't.
In case you didn't realize, our monthly "gift" is anything but. We bleed constantly, and as such, we have to deal with the mess that the blood makes. Where do we do that? You guessed it, the porcelain throne. The bathroom. A bathroom stall. And it is not a quick process. Putting a tampon in is often not just bend, poke, done. If it isn't a plastic applicator, just getting it in can be a chore, and if it isn't inserted properly we have to do all that again. Women who use pads have to properly position them and make sure that everything is aligned so that the Red Sea stays where it belongs. And to women who use Diva Cups? I personally don't know how you do it.
For the uninformed out there, a Diva Cup is a silicone cup that folds and sits in your vagina to catch the blood. It needs to be emptied regularly, for obvious reasons, and that also occurs in a bathroom. While men are just using urinals, we're emptying literal blood into toilets because of nature. And then they have to be reinserted as well. This is a process that takes time, time that men don't have to put in, and time that makes the line to the women's room pile up.
Oh, and by the way, blood isn't the only inconvenience of periods. A lot of the time, periods can cause digestive problems that result in, you guessed it, more bathroom time. Often, it's not preventable. It's just a fact of womanhood. We literally can't help it, and even the fastest, most efficient woman, is going to cause more delay while dealing with her period than a man will cause on an average day.
Biologically speaking, we are entitled to more stalls. Yeah, you might be calling me a crazy feminist for ranting about periods and vaginas in a public article, but for women, it's a regular issue. So, to everyone who might be designing a bathroom in a building, throw us a bone. Give the ladies more stalls.
