Equality v. Equity: Why Does the Women's Restroom Always Have a Line?

I was walking through the airport when my 5-year-old said she had to use the bathroom now. I was like, “cool, let’s go” and I looked to the nearest bathroom and was met with the longest line, snaking out the door and around the corner.

While we stood in line, I noticed that the entrance/exit to the men’s bathroom was right next to the women’s. No line. No waiting. No kids who were about to pee their pants.?Men easily streamed in and out without a second thought.

I looked at my line. There were 14 women in front of me and more gathering behind me.

In a world that insists on gendered bathrooms, equality means the same number of bathrooms for men and women. The same number of stalls. Or do the number of urinals match the number of stalls?

Is equality really what we should be striving for regarding restrooms?

One thing that gender binary bathrooms guarantee—the women’s bathroom will always have women painfully waiting a very long time for a stall. I don’t see any equality happening when men can relieve themselves without waiting in a 10-minute (or longer) line.?

True equality should exist in gender-inclusive bathrooms. Bathrooms that every gender has access to.

But our world operates to the (false) gender binary. So, rather than equality, we need to strive for equity.

What might restroom equity look like?

Stuck with the gender binary, then my answer would be to create 5 women’s bathrooms for every 1 men’s bathroom. That isn’t equal and it shouldn’t be. It is equitable because it fits the specific needs of women.

The most inclusive, most effective (most financially efficient) solution would be to have gender-inclusive bathrooms everywhere. Gender-inclusive bathrooms that are accessible to all abilities, have 15+ stalls, and no urinals.

This way, every body, every gender, every age, every disability gets the privacy they deserve.