The gender gap, while narrowing, is still apparent in working wages, employment procedures and public restrooms. Did she say public restrooms? Yes. For decades, women have been forced to wait in long lines and cram into tight stalls to go to the bathroom.

Frequently, in public places, lines of women can be seen snaking out of restrooms. This is because public buildings have fewer toilets for women than men. While women have only stalls, men have stalls and urinals which give them often twice as many toilets. According to Working Woman, in building-code circles this is called the Urinal Advantage. I call it toilet inequity.

Diane Dennis, a geologist and one of the first women to construct water-tunnels underground, told a writer for Working Woman magazine that because she spent eight-hour shifts underground with only men, it was imperative that she not drink anything during lunch. But for those of us who like to drink liquids with meals, just not going to the bathroom is not an option.

The irony of toilet inequity is that women take longer to use the bathroom. Women have more accessories and, let’s face it, a more difficult process of going to the bathroom. I won’t go into details on this one, just trust me.

Let’s bring it closer to home. You are out having a ball at an Ames bar when the need to use the facilities arises. You and a male friend head to the restroom at the same time. After threading through crowds of drinkers with suspended beer bottles and lit cigarettes, you see the line for the women’s bathroom. Your bladder condenses just looking at it.

As the stall doors loom close, you look through the door of the women’s restroom, propped open to allow the line to spill out, and see your male friend waving to you and pointing to the dance floor. He’s already done, and you’re still waiting in line. Then, when you finally get to go, there’s no toilet paper … but that’s another column.

Women on the ISU campus also run into toilet inequity. While most university buildings are equipped with women’s restrooms aplenty, there are a few buildings on campus where women must use strategy to use the restroom.

Take Fisher Theatre and CY Stephens. Both theaters are magnificent venues for viewing a theatrical or musical production. However, when intermission comes, you’d better tie on your running shoes and sprint to get a stall in the restroom. If, for some reason, you are detained by a slow couple leaving your aisle or, heaven forbid, you stop to chat, you stand the risk of not making the curtain for the second half. What you’ll be doing when the curtain rises is shifting back and forth, tapping your foot impatiently and waiting for the toilet to flush.

Neither Fisher nor CY Stephens has a sufficient number of toilets in their women’s restrooms. For many productions, more women than men attend the shows. Yet women have fewer toilets. Makes sense, doesn’t it? (Not to mention, the door of the first stall in the main women’s restroom of Fisher has been broken for at least three months).

Many public buildings were built in past decades — decades that didn’t prominently feature women. Because women were not involved in the planning and building of these structures, their needs were not heavily weighed. But as more women become engineers and architects, and more women serve on facility planning committees, hopefully the number of toilets in women’s restrooms will increase. I hope so, because I heard holding it gives you bladder infections.

Erin Walter is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Urbandale.