Potty Parity: There Should Be More Restrooms for Women in Theatres

A couple days ago, the Boston Globe ran a story about how there should be more women's restrooms in theatre, not to mention every place where there is a large gathering of people. 

I agree 100%

It doesn't take a genius to see that the women's room line is much longer than the one for the men's room. I was at a recent performance and during intermission, I counted and saw it was 47 women deep. In fact, the women at the end of the line hardly had moved during the time it took me to go in and out of the men's room. 

I've also heard countless times of women getting in line and not being able to do their business before intermission is over and Act 2 begins. Try enjoying the second half of Hamilton with a full bladder, that's not an internal not a battle I want to have. 

So this is why I think women's bathrooms should outnumber men's bathrooms in theatres by at least 2:1. 

And before a select group of men think this is another violation of men's rights (yes, apparently that's a thing), having more female restroom options makes sense based on not only who are seeing these shows but also basic biology. 

Yes, this column will talk about the act of urinating....you've been warned. 

To ease you into it, let's start with the population facts of who are seeing Broadway shows. You'd have to be an idiot not to see that women see Broadway shows more than men, but by how much might surprise you.

According to demographic studies by the Broadway League, in 2016 the Broadway audience was 67% female. Although down from the previous year, it's still a 10% increase since 2000.  

So when we really think of it, having more female bathroom options in theatres just makes sense given the population of the actual audience. 

The other part of it is in fact, human biology. It's scientific fact that due to the female reproductive system, women have smaller bladders than men. If men can't understand why, they should have paid more attention in sex-ed class because they would see it's due to the presence of a uterus, which you know, it's pretty important to have. 

So again, when you have a population of theatre audiences that NEED to use the restroom more than the other, it just makes sense for them to have more restrooms. 

Thankfully, Broadway theatres are starting to realize this. The New York Times reported earlier in the year that the Shubert Organization increased their women's stalls from 114 to 265 and so did Jujamycn by adding 46 women's stalls across their theatres. 

Will it be enough to curb the long lines? Maybe. But I firmly believe that if there are six restrooms in a theatre, four of them should be for women. 

If men don't like that it, then more of us should start coming to the theatre.