Bathroom Segregation
The first gender segregated public restroom on record was a temporary setup at a parisian ball in 1739 said sheila cavanagh a sociologist at york university in canada and author of queering.
Bathroom segregation. You may have heard about how voters in houston recently rejected the so called bathroom ordinance a broad equal rights ordinance which would have prohibited discrimination based on race sex sexual orientation and gender identity among a host of other attributes and in fact made no explicit mention of public restrooms. The men s and women s rooms are separate and usually only need to offer equal square footage. Though the first sex segregated toilets were established in paris in the 1700s regulations requiring that american men and women use separate restrooms got their start in the late 1800s.
Sex segregated bathrooms are a recent invention in the united states a separate but equal mentality rules public bathrooms. Restroom segregation is a relatively recent thing. In ancient times men and women used the same facilities latrines with no privacy.
Urinals take up less space than stalls so equal floor space does not ensure equal opportunities for bladder relief.