newtothegame
06-04-2010, 11:58 PM
men and women...But do we really need HEARINGS on this??? Just fix the restrooms...damn!!! More dollars gone on hearings.....ughhhhh!!!
‘Potty Parity’ Toilet-Discrimination Bill Gets House Hearing, While Immigration and Jobs Wait In Line
Friday, June 04, 2010
(CNSNews.com) – A bill providing “restroom gender parity” in federal buildings--mandating that the number of toilets for women would need to equal or exceed the number of toilets for men--is getting serious, bipartisan consideration in Congress at a time when many Americans are pressing Congress to do something about jobs, immigration, and other pressing matters.
The Restroom Gender Parity in Federal Buildings Act received a full committee hearing (http://oversight.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4920&Itemid=2) on May 12, complete with introductory remarks by lawmakers (http://groc.edgeboss.net/wmedia/groc/fullcommittee/2010/05.12.10.fc.pottyparity.wvx) and testimony from witnesses.
Rep. Darryl Issa of California, the ranking Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, noted the importance of the hearing process – not to mention the potty parity bill itself:
“As people seldom realize, in Congress, in order to move a piece of legislation, we hold hearings. In order to understand the final and best form of that legislation, we hold hearings. I think this is no exception,” said Issa, who described the bill as laudable and essential.
Institutional discrimination in restrooms
The bill’s sponsor, Committee Chairman Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.), outlined both the problem and his proposed solution:
“This is not a minor issue,” Towns said. “Women are often forced to wait in long lines to use public restrooms or walk further to find a restroom while men rarely have the same problem.”
Towns noted that many large public buildings – airports, museums, universities, theaters, offices -- were built many years ago, before women entered the workforce in large numbers – and at a time when contractors, architects, engineers and government procurement officials “were overwhelmingly male and rarely considered the needs of women.”
“Throughout history, public restrooms have been the site of institutional discrimination by race, physical (disability) and gender,” Towns said. While there have been great strides in dealing with race and physical disability, public restroom facilities for women still lag behind those of men, he said.
“Today women still lack equal access to restrooms in many places of employment,” Towns said. “The fact that many federal buildings do no provide as many restrooms facilities for woman as they do for men is simply unfair. It is time for that to change,” Rep. Towns said.
The bill requires all new federal buildings and newly renovated federal buildings to have at least the same number of toilets for women as are provided for men. According to the language of H.R. 4869 (http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-4869), “the number of toilets in women’s restrooms will equal or exceed the number of toilets (including urinals) in men’s restrooms.”
While many states have introduced their own potty parity laws, the passage of a federal law would “be a milestone on the path to true gender parity,” Towns said.
The primping factor
“It really says something that we have to hold a hearing on what should be an administrative matter,” said D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), another committee member.
She noted that some restroom facilities “were designed as if there were only men in the world.”
We’ve all seen the long lines at women’s bathrooms, Norton said. But not all women are there to answer nature’s call:
“We go in, we have to attend to our looks as well. So you will see some people standing in line who don’t have to go to the bathroom at all. But they want to see how they look. All we want to make sure is, those who want to attend to their needs are able to do so equally with men, who have the same needs, and the last time I heard, men and women really do have the same needs in this one sphere.”
The last remaining segregated spaces
Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) called the hearing on restroom gender parity “very important.”
He lamented that long lines at women’s restrooms are something we’ve all come to accept: “This type of gender discrimination should not exist as a time when we have a female secretary of state, a female speaker of the house, two female associate justices and one on the way.”
Cummings described restrooms as among the “few remaining segregated spaces in the American landscape,” and he said it escapes him why women are treated as second-class citizens.
When it was introduced in March, H.R. 4869 generated questions in some quarters about Congress spending time on toilets instead of addressing more pressing issues of the day.
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/67124
‘Potty Parity’ Toilet-Discrimination Bill Gets House Hearing, While Immigration and Jobs Wait In Line
Friday, June 04, 2010
(CNSNews.com) – A bill providing “restroom gender parity” in federal buildings--mandating that the number of toilets for women would need to equal or exceed the number of toilets for men--is getting serious, bipartisan consideration in Congress at a time when many Americans are pressing Congress to do something about jobs, immigration, and other pressing matters.
The Restroom Gender Parity in Federal Buildings Act received a full committee hearing (http://oversight.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4920&Itemid=2) on May 12, complete with introductory remarks by lawmakers (http://groc.edgeboss.net/wmedia/groc/fullcommittee/2010/05.12.10.fc.pottyparity.wvx) and testimony from witnesses.
Rep. Darryl Issa of California, the ranking Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, noted the importance of the hearing process – not to mention the potty parity bill itself:
“As people seldom realize, in Congress, in order to move a piece of legislation, we hold hearings. In order to understand the final and best form of that legislation, we hold hearings. I think this is no exception,” said Issa, who described the bill as laudable and essential.
Institutional discrimination in restrooms
The bill’s sponsor, Committee Chairman Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.), outlined both the problem and his proposed solution:
“This is not a minor issue,” Towns said. “Women are often forced to wait in long lines to use public restrooms or walk further to find a restroom while men rarely have the same problem.”
Towns noted that many large public buildings – airports, museums, universities, theaters, offices -- were built many years ago, before women entered the workforce in large numbers – and at a time when contractors, architects, engineers and government procurement officials “were overwhelmingly male and rarely considered the needs of women.”
“Throughout history, public restrooms have been the site of institutional discrimination by race, physical (disability) and gender,” Towns said. While there have been great strides in dealing with race and physical disability, public restroom facilities for women still lag behind those of men, he said.
“Today women still lack equal access to restrooms in many places of employment,” Towns said. “The fact that many federal buildings do no provide as many restrooms facilities for woman as they do for men is simply unfair. It is time for that to change,” Rep. Towns said.
The bill requires all new federal buildings and newly renovated federal buildings to have at least the same number of toilets for women as are provided for men. According to the language of H.R. 4869 (http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-4869), “the number of toilets in women’s restrooms will equal or exceed the number of toilets (including urinals) in men’s restrooms.”
While many states have introduced their own potty parity laws, the passage of a federal law would “be a milestone on the path to true gender parity,” Towns said.
The primping factor
“It really says something that we have to hold a hearing on what should be an administrative matter,” said D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), another committee member.
She noted that some restroom facilities “were designed as if there were only men in the world.”
We’ve all seen the long lines at women’s bathrooms, Norton said. But not all women are there to answer nature’s call:
“We go in, we have to attend to our looks as well. So you will see some people standing in line who don’t have to go to the bathroom at all. But they want to see how they look. All we want to make sure is, those who want to attend to their needs are able to do so equally with men, who have the same needs, and the last time I heard, men and women really do have the same needs in this one sphere.”
The last remaining segregated spaces
Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) called the hearing on restroom gender parity “very important.”
He lamented that long lines at women’s restrooms are something we’ve all come to accept: “This type of gender discrimination should not exist as a time when we have a female secretary of state, a female speaker of the house, two female associate justices and one on the way.”
Cummings described restrooms as among the “few remaining segregated spaces in the American landscape,” and he said it escapes him why women are treated as second-class citizens.
When it was introduced in March, H.R. 4869 generated questions in some quarters about Congress spending time on toilets instead of addressing more pressing issues of the day.
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/67124