Everybody Poops!

This makes sense to me because 85% of the workforce is women.  There are wait lines to use the restroom.  The men’s room -  no waiting. 

I was sharing how I thought it was a good idea with a co-worker.  She was livid.  I mean angry beyond belief.  She said men are dirty, that she doesn’t want to walk into the bathroom and see a man's “wee-wee” dangling in front of her.  She believes it's dangerous too - “men are easily excited” a woman is an easier target for rapist if her pants are already down.

Wow!  For me, it was about convenience.  Do you have any feedback?

-Everybody goes.

Dear Everybody goes,

Well, is this Puritanical thinking?  The Puritans who left Europe to settle in the New World had shared beliefs that were so intolerant and rigid that their European countrymen were like…  "Dude, you’re a little too uptight.  Maybe you’d be better off in the New World." 

Well, my research discovered that Puritans pee and poop.  They used a motley collection of communal outhouses, chamber pots and holes in the ground.  One of the most pious religious groups in America used all-gender bathrooms.  Who’d a thought, right?  So the separation of men and women is not a hold over from the Puritans.

Further research uncovered that segregation of bathrooms in America by gender was regulated first in Massachusetts in 1887.  The social norms of that era were that a woman’s place was in the home.  As women entered the workforce there was a reluctance to integrate them into public life, in another words, they were not welcome into the workforce.  Women were identified as being weaker and in need of protection from the harsh realities of public life.  (Noteworthy is that not only were bathrooms segregated but public libraries and train cars were too.)  Women, delicate flowers as they were perceived, needed to be protected for their own good and more importantly manipulated into believing that they were not safe and that their place was not in the work world, but instead at home.   

The efforts to keep women on an uneven playing field often is and continues to be, a subtle and sometimes inconsequential act. 

However, once it is known that a well-masked trivial act is actually an act of oppression, the conversation can change.

Yes, men can be messy.  You know that thing with missing the bowl.  Women are messy too, many squatters splash on the seat.  Let’s not go into feminine hygiene products and their disposal. 

A fem-fatale getting a peek at a “wee-wee” may be a possibility, though most urinals and or stalls are designed with some privacy barrier, which would mean that the likelihood of finding one dangling in front is not likely unless perhaps looking. 

I recommend that you do not feed into your co-worker's opinion, respect their value system and concerns.  And ask yourself: Is keeping sex segregated bathrooms an homage to an era of misogyny?  Or is the gender integration of bathrooms a step toward equality? 

Upside!  Once the transition to all gender restrooms is implemented fewer and shorter wait lines.