Today is World Toilet Day, which sounds kinda silly and/or gross but is actually meant to build awareness for the billions of people without proper access to the basic human right of sanitation. According to UN Water, 2.5 billion people across the globe lack proper access to proper sanitation. Put another way? More people have access to cell phones than they do to proper toilets.The New York Times is using World Toilet Day to draw attention to China’s “Occupy Men’s Room” movement for better bathroom parity beginning with architectural standards.  As any woman can attest, women spend longer in public restrooms: we average 89 seconds per bathroom visit, while men spend a breezy 39 seconds. In order to move women through the bathroom more quickly, a group Chinese students, architects and engineers petitioned for the Chinese government to revise the ratio of female-to-male toilets from 1.5:1 to 2:1.  Petitoners are also asking for more space in individual women’s restroom stalls, citing how the needs of pregnant women, menstruating women and women who bring their children in with them aren’t being well-addressed. And as far as activist chants are concerned, they’ve got a good one: “Bathroom ratio two to one, or else women won’t hold it!”You can learn more about World Toilet Day from UN Water.Related Articles:Avoiding Germs in Public RestroomsSkinny People’s Poop Could Cure Obesity

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