Latest news with #pottyparity
The Independent
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Women in legislatures across the US fight for ‘potty parity'
For female state lawmakers in Kentucky, choosing when to go to the bathroom has long required careful calculation. There are only two bathroom stalls for women on the third floor of the Kentucky Statehouse, where the House and Senate chambers are located. Female legislators — 41 of the 138 member Legislature — needing a reprieve during a lengthy floor session have to weigh the risk of missing an important debate or a critical vote. None of their male colleagues face the same dilemma because, of course, multiple men's bathrooms are available. The Legislature even installed speakers in the men's bathrooms to broadcast the chamber's events so they don't miss anything important. In a pinch, House Speaker David Osborne allows women to use his single stall bathroom in the chamber, but even that attracts long lines. 'You get the message very quickly: This place was not really built for us,' said Rep. Lisa Willner, a Democrat from Louisville, reflecting on the photos of former lawmakers, predominantly male, that line her office. The issue of potty parity may seem comic, but its impact runs deeper than uncomfortably full bladders, said Kathryn Anthony, professor emerita at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's School of Architecture. 'It's absolutely critical because the built environment reflects our culture and reflects our population,' said Anthony, who has testified on the issue before Congress. 'And if you have an environment that is designed for half the population but forgets about the other half, you have a group of disenfranchised people and disadvantaged people.' There is hope for Kentucky's lady legislators seeking more chamber potties. A $300 million renovation of the 155-year-old Capitol — scheduled for completion by 2028 at the soonest — aims to create more women's restrooms and end Kentucky's bathroom disparity. The Bluegrass State is among the last to add bathrooms to aging statehouses that were built when female legislators were not a consideration. In the $392 million renovation of the Georgia Capitol, expanding bathroom access is a priority, said Gerald Pilgrim, chief of staff with the state's Building Authority. It will introduce female facilities on the building's fourth floor, where the public galleries are located, and will add more bathrooms throughout to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. 'We know there are not enough bathrooms,' he said. Evolving equality in statehouses There's no federal law requiring bathroom access for all genders in public buildings. Some 20 states have statutes prescribing how many washrooms buildings must have, but historical buildings — such as statehouses — are often exempt. Over the years, as the makeup of state governments has changed, statehouses have added bathrooms for women. When Tennessee's Capitol opened in 1859, the architects designed only one restroom — for men only — situated on the ground floor. According to legislative librarian Eddie Weeks, the toilet could only be "flushed' when enough rainwater had been collected. 'The room was famously described as 'a stench in the nostrils of decency,'' Weeks said in an email. Today, Tennessee's Capitol has a female bathroom located between the Senate and House chambers. It's in a cramped hall under a staircase, sparking comparisons to Harry Potter's cupboard bedroom, and it contains just two stalls. The men also just have one bathroom on the same floor, but it has three urinals and three stalls. Democratic Rep. Aftyn Behn, who was elected in 2023, said she wasn't aware of the disparity in facilities until contacted by The Associated Press. 'I've apparently accepted that waiting in line for a two-stall closet under the Senate balcony is just part of the job,' she said. 'I had to fight to get elected to a legislature that ranks dead last for female representation, and now I get to squeeze into a space that feels like it was designed by someone who thought women didn't exist -- or at least didn't have bladders,' Behn said. The Maryland State House is the country's oldest state capitol in continuous legislative use, operational since the late 1700s. Archivists say its bathroom facilities were initially intended for white men only because desegregation laws were still in place. Women's restrooms were added after 1922, but they were insufficient for the rising number of women elected to office. Delegate Pauline Menes complained about the issue so much that House Speaker Thomas Lowe appointed her chair of the 'Ladies Rest Room Committee,' and presented her with a fur covered toilet seat in front of her colleagues in 1972. She launched the women's caucus the following year. It wasn't until 2019 that House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones, the first woman to secure the top position, ordered the addition of more women's restrooms along with a gender-neutral bathroom and a nursing room for mothers in the Lowe House Office Building. 'No longer do we fret and squirm or cross our legs in panic' As more women were elected nationwide in the 20th century, some found creative workarounds. In Nebraska's unicameral Legislature, female senators didn't get a dedicated restroom until 1988, when a facility was added in the chamber's cloakroom. There had previously been a single restroom in the senate lounge, and Sen. Shirley Marsh, who served for some 16 years, would ask a State Patrol trooper to guard the door while she used it, said Brandon Metzler, the Legislature's clerk. In Colorado, female House representatives and staff were so happy to have a restroom added in the chamber's hallway in 1987 that they hung a plaque to honor then-state Rep. Arie Taylor, the state's first Black woman legislator, who pushed for the facility. The plaque, now inside a women's bathroom in the Capitol, reads: 'Once here beneath the golden dome if nature made a call, we'd have to scramble from our seats and dash across the hall ... Then Arie took the mike once more to push an urge organic, no longer do we fret and squirm or cross our legs in panic.' The poem concludes: 'In mem'ry of you, Arie (may you never be forgot), from this day forth we'll call that room the Taylor Chamber Pot.' New Mexico Democratic state Rep. Liz Thomson recalled missing votes in the House during her first year in office in 2013 because there was no women's restroom in the chamber's lounge. An increase in female lawmakers — New Mexico elected the largest female majority Legislature in U.S. history in 2024 — helped raise awareness of the issue, she said. 'It seems kind of like fluff, but it really isn't,' she said. 'To me, it really talks about respect and inclusion.' The issue is not exclusive to statehouses. In the U.S. Capitol, the first restroom for congresswomen didn't open until 1962. While a facility was made available for female U.S. Senators in 1992, it wasn't until 2011 that the House chamber opened a bathroom to women lawmakers. Jeannette Rankin of Montana was the first woman elected to a congressional seat. That happened in 1916. Willner insists that knowing the Kentucky Capitol wasn't designed for women gives her extra impetus to stand up and make herself heard. 'This building was not designed for me," she said. "Well, guess what? I'm here.' ___ Associated Press writer Brian Witte in Annapolis, Maryland, contributed. ____ The Associated Press' women in the workforce and state government coverage receives financial support from Pivotal Ventures. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at
Associated Press
4 days ago
- Politics
- Associated Press
Statehouses are the public's houses, but the fight for potty parity continues
For female state lawmakers in Kentucky, choosing when to go to the bathroom has long required careful calculation. There are only two bathroom stalls for women on the third floor of the Kentucky Statehouse, where the House and Senate chambers are located. Female legislators — 41 of the 138 member Legislature — needing a reprieve during a lengthy floor session have to weigh the risk of missing an important debate or a critical vote. None of their male colleagues face the same dilemma because, of course, multiple men's bathrooms are available. The Legislature even installed speakers in the men's bathrooms to broadcast the chamber's events so they don't miss anything important. In a pinch, House Speaker David Osborne allows women to use his single stall bathroom in the chamber, but even that attracts long lines. 'You get the message very quickly: This place was not really built for us,' said Rep. Lisa Willner, a Democrat from Louisville, reflecting on the photos of former lawmakers, predominantly male, that line her office. The issue of potty parity may seem comic, but its impact runs deeper than uncomfortably full bladders, said Kathryn Anthony, professor emerita at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's School of Architecture. 'It's absolutely critical because the built environment reflects our culture and reflects our population,' said Anthony, who has testified on the issue before Congress. 'And if you have an environment that is designed for half the population but forgets about the other half, you have a group of disenfranchised people and disadvantaged people.' There is hope for Kentucky's lady legislators seeking more chamber potties. A $300 million renovation of the 155-year-old Capitol — scheduled for completion by 2028 at the soonest — aims to create more women's restrooms and end Kentucky's bathroom disparity. The Bluegrass State is among the last to add bathrooms to aging statehouses that were built when female legislators were not a consideration. In the $392 million renovation of the Georgia Capitol, expanding bathroom access is a priority, said Gerald Pilgrim, chief of staff with the state's Building Authority. It will introduce female facilities on the building's fourth floor, where the public galleries are located, and will add more bathrooms throughout to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. 'We know there are not enough bathrooms,' he said. Evolving equality in statehouses There's no federal law requiring bathroom access for all genders in public buildings. Some 20 states have statutes prescribing how many washrooms buildings must have, but historical buildings — such as statehouses — are often exempt. Over the years, as the makeup of state governments has changed, statehouses have added bathrooms for women. When Tennessee's Capitol opened in 1859, the architects designed only one restroom — for men only — situated on the ground floor. According to legislative librarian Eddie Weeks, the toilet could only be 'flushed' when enough rainwater had been collected. 'The room was famously described as 'a stench in the nostrils of decency,'' Weeks said in an email. Today, Tennessee's Capitol has a female bathroom located between the Senate and House chambers. It's in a cramped hall under a staircase, sparking comparisons to Harry Potter's cupboard bedroom, and it contains just two stalls. The men also just have one bathroom on the same floor, but it has three urinals and three stalls. Democratic Rep. Aftyn Behn, who was elected in 2023, said she wasn't aware of the disparity in facilities until contacted by The Associated Press. 'I've apparently accepted that waiting in line for a two-stall closet under the Senate balcony is just part of the job,' she said. 'I had to fight to get elected to a legislature that ranks dead last for female representation, and now I get to squeeze into a space that feels like it was designed by someone who thought women didn't exist -- or at least didn't have bladders,' Behn said. The Maryland State House is the country's oldest state capitol in continuous legislative use, operational since the late 1700s. Archivists say its bathroom facilities were initially intended for white men only because desegregation laws were still in place. Women's restrooms were added after 1922, but they were insufficient for the rising number of women elected to office. Delegate Pauline Menes complained about the issue so much that House Speaker Thomas Lowe appointed her chair of the 'Ladies Rest Room Committee,' and presented her with a fur covered toilet seat in front of her colleagues in 1972. She launched the women's caucus the following year. It wasn't until 2019 that House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones, the first woman to secure the top position, ordered the addition of more women's restrooms along with a gender-neutral bathroom and a nursing room for mothers in the Lowe House Office Building. 'No longer do we fret and squirm or cross our legs in panic' As more women were elected nationwide in the 20th century, some found creative workarounds. In Nebraska's unicameral Legislature, female senators didn't get a dedicated restroom until 1988, when a facility was added in the chamber's cloakroom. There had previously been a single restroom in the senate lounge, and Sen. Shirley Marsh, who served for some 16 years, would ask a State Patrol trooper to guard the door while she used it, said Brandon Metzler, the Legislature's clerk. In Colorado, female House representatives and staff were so happy to have a restroom added in the chamber's hallway in 1987 that they hung a plaque to honor then-state Rep. Arie Taylor, the state's first Black woman legislator, who pushed for the facility. The plaque, now inside a women's bathroom in the Capitol, reads: 'Once here beneath the golden dome if nature made a call, we'd have to scramble from our seats and dash across the hall ... Then Arie took the mike once more to push an urge organic, no longer do we fret and squirm or cross our legs in panic.' The poem concludes: 'In mem'ry of you, Arie (may you never be forgot), from this day forth we'll call that room the Taylor Chamber Pot.' New Mexico Democratic state Rep. Liz Thomson recalled missing votes in the House during her first year in office in 2013 because there was no women's restroom in the chamber's lounge. An increase in female lawmakers — New Mexico elected the largest female majority Legislature in U.S. history in 2024 — helped raise awareness of the issue, she said. 'It seems kind of like fluff, but it really isn't,' she said. 'To me, it really talks about respect and inclusion.' The issue is not exclusive to statehouses. In the U.S. Capitol, the first restroom for congresswomen didn't open until 1962. While a facility was made available for female U.S. Senators in 1992, it wasn't until 2011 that the House chamber opened a bathroom to women lawmakers. Jeannette Rankin of Montana was the first woman elected to a congressional seat. That happened in 1916. Willner insists that knowing the Kentucky Capitol wasn't designed for women gives her extra impetus to stand up and make herself heard. 'This building was not designed for me,' she said. 'Well, guess what? I'm here.' ___ Associated Press writer Brian Witte in Annapolis, Maryland, contributed. ____ The Associated Press' women in the workforce and state government coverage receives financial support from Pivotal Ventures. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at
Mail & Guardian
11-05-2025
- General
- Mail & Guardian
Female architects ensure potty parity
(Graphic: John McCann/M&G) Ever wondered why the queue to the women's public toilets is forever stretching around the block while men roll in and out of their facilities with ease? A new line of men begins to form as they wait for their wives, daughters and girlfriends to leave the women's toilets. I pondered the question of potty parity in real estate while I was quite literally standing in the restroom queue. It is true that women typically take longer in a bathroom setting than men, but this does not alter the question. It comes down to design bias. Most of these public spaces, where this issue of long wait times for women is encountered, were designed by men. Men who decided that an equal toilet ratio would be suitable for both genders to make use of. It's safe to say that female architects were significantly underrepresented when most of these buildings were designed and built. The American Institute of Architects has published mountains of demographic data about the architecture industry. I read that in 1970, roughly 1% of registered architects in the United States were women. By 1980, this number grew slightly to about 4%. Many of the buildings and their toilet facilities I referred to above were built during this period. In terms of the architectural sector in South Africa, a 2019 article states that, according to the South African Institute of Architects in the Eastern Cape, only 21% of registered architectural professionals in the country are women. This is still extremely low. Without the female perspective in spatial planning, it's no wonder we are stuck with long restroom queues. Flash forward to today and I am pleased to see women in all aspects of real estate taking their place at the table and sharing their valuable expertise. There are now more female architects, property developers, brokers, chief executives, and chief financial officers of publicly listed real estate investment trusts, as well as owners of real estate-related service companies, than at any other time in history. The Leonardo skyscraper, located at 75 Maude Street in Sandton, Johannesburg, is the tallest building in South Africa and the fourth-tallest building in Africa. The building spans 55 floors and is 234m high. It has 232 apartments, nine conference venues, 1 251 parking bays and eight penthouse suites. Some three-storey penthouses have been listed online for sale for a staggering R250 million. Did you know that a predominantly female team designed the tallest building in South Africa? Nine out of the 11 architects were women. They include Catharine Atkins, Malika Walele, Salome Daley, Janel Venter, Megan Holman, Angela Barnard, Keitsitse Losaba, Antonella Giuricich and Rachel Zwane. The main contractor for this development was Aveng Grinaker-LTA and the architects were Co-Arc International Architects. They broke ground on 17 November 2015, and the development was completed in 2019. Amenities inside this mixed-use tower include restaurants, bars, a spa and a gym, a Montessori crèche and a swimming deck. Alto234 is a bar at the top of the Leonardo offering sensational 360-degree views of Johannesburg (especially beautiful when the jacarandas are in bloom and the landscape is a sea of purple). This is the highest bar in Africa. Among the residential apartments, retail and office space is the Legacy Hotels & Resorts 240-room hotel. The art collection displayed throughout the building is impressive. More than 100 contemporary African artists were asked to create unique works specifically for this building. There are close to 1 500 unique artworks displayed on the interior walls. A notable piece is the entrance area's chandelier with more than 80 000 squares of hand-assembled metal. The artwork is titled The Ancestor, which was curated, commissioned and directed by The Trinity Session. Half a tonne of copper, stainless steel and brass was used to create this stand-out piece. These materials were inspired by Johannesburg, the City of Gold. Another notable artwork is the tall, colourful artwork by Mbongeni Buthelezi. This artist heated plastic to create an oil-painting effect. Another notable building whose design team was woman-led is the Mall of Africa. Completed in 2016, this shopping mall is famous for its size — 131 038m2 — and being the largest single-phase mall developed in South Africa. Tia Kanakakis was the principal designer at MDS Architecture. The mall's design reflects Africa's unique geological characteristics and landscapes. It includes different sections, such as the Oleum Court, which represents the oil-rich regions of West Africa; the Great Lakes Court, symbolising East Africa; the Crystal Court, showcasing Southern Africa's mineral resources; and the Sand Court, which captures the essence of the desert dunes found in North Africa. The mall is home to more than 300 shops and 6 500 parking bays and has won multiple awards for its design. Last, I want to praise Ashleigh Killa, the co-founder of The MAAK, an architectural studio based in Cape Town. They were responsible for designing a TB testing lab for the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation in Masiphumelele, Cape Town. I wrote about this lab a few years ago because I was (and still am) a huge fan of the bold design. Thanks to this lab, the foundation can advance its research on this illness while also providing support to the local community. The building was built in 2019 and spans 500m2. Cheers to Ashleigh and her team for being trailblazers in aesthetically pleasing design for public infrastructure that serves the communities most in need. I wish more designers of public infrastructure would be inspired by her approach when it comes to the design of a site like this. Just because it's public infrastructure does not mean we need to put up some depressing, brutalist blob. In a field long dominated by men, the women I've highlighted stand as powerful reminders that architectural brilliance knows no gender. Their work, rooted in innovation and social awareness, is not only shaping the skylines of South Africa but also transforming the way we inhabit our spaces. These women architects are designing more than buildings; they are building futures that are inclusive, sustainable and undeniably bold. As their effect ripples through communities and across generations, one thing becomes clear: the future of South African architecture is not only female, it's visionary. Ask Ash examines South Africa's property, architecture and living spaces. Continue the conversation with her on email (
