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Boston Globe
26-07-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Women legislators fight for ‘potty parity'
In a pinch, House Speaker David Osborne allows women to use his single stall bathroom in the chamber, but even that attracts long lines. Advertisement 'You get the message very quickly: This place was not really built for us,' said Rep. Lisa Willner, a Democrat from Louisville, reflecting on the photos of former lawmakers, predominantly male, that line her office. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up The issue of potty parity may seem comic, but its impact runs deeper than uncomfortably full bladders, said Kathryn Anthony, professor emerita at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's School of Architecture. 'It's absolutely critical because the built environment reflects our culture and reflects our population,' said Anthony, who has testified on the issue before Congress. 'And if you have an environment that is designed for half the population but forgets about the other half, you have a group of disenfranchised people and disadvantaged people.' There is hope for Kentucky's lady legislators seeking more chamber potties. Advertisement A $300 million renovation of the 155-year-old Capitol — scheduled for completion by 2028 at the soonest — aims to create more women's restrooms and end Kentucky's bathroom disparity. The Bluegrass State is among the last to add bathrooms to aging statehouses that were built when female legislators were not a consideration. In the $392 million renovation of the Georgia Capitol, expanding bathroom access is a priority, said Gerald Pilgrim, chief of staff with the state's Building Authority. It will introduce female facilities on the building's fourth floor, where the public galleries are located, and will add more bathrooms throughout to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. 'We know there are not enough bathrooms,' he said. Evolving equality in statehouses There's no federal law requiring bathroom access for all genders in public buildings. Some 20 states have statutes prescribing how many washrooms buildings must have, but historical buildings — such as statehouses — are often exempt. Over the years, as the makeup of state governments has changed, statehouses have added bathrooms for women. When Tennessee's Capitol opened in 1859, the architects designed only one restroom — for men only — situated on the ground floor. According to legislative librarian Eddie Weeks, the toilet could only be 'flushed' when enough rainwater had been collected. 'The room was famously described as 'a stench in the nostrils of decency,'' Weeks said in an email. Today, Tennessee's Capitol has a female bathroom located between the Senate and House chambers. It's in a cramped hall under a staircase, sparking comparisons to Harry Potter's cupboard bedroom, and it contains just two stalls. The men also just have one bathroom on the same floor, but it has three urinals and three stalls. Advertisement Democratic Rep. Aftyn Behn, who was elected in 2023, said she wasn't aware of the disparity in facilities until contacted by The Associated Press. 'I've apparently accepted that waiting in line for a two-stall closet under the Senate balcony is just part of the job,' she said. 'I had to fight to get elected to a legislature that ranks dead last for female representation, and now I get to squeeze into a space that feels like it was designed by someone who thought women didn't exist -- or at least didn't have bladders,' Behn said. The Maryland State House is the country's oldest state capitol in continuous legislative use, operational since the late 1700s. Archivists say its bathroom facilities were initially intended for white men only because desegregation laws were still in place. Women's restrooms were added after 1922, but they were insufficient for the rising number of women elected to office. Delegate Pauline Menes complained about the issue so much that House Speaker Thomas Lowe appointed her chair of the 'Ladies Rest Room Committee,' and presented her with a fur covered toilet seat in front of her colleagues in 1972. She launched the women's caucus the following year. It wasn't until 2019 that House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones, the first woman to secure the top position, ordered the addition of more women's restrooms along with a gender-neutral bathroom and a nursing room for mothers in the Lowe House Office Building. 'No longer do we fret and squirm or cross our legs in panic' As more women were elected nationwide in the 20th century, some found creative workarounds. In Nebraska's unicameral Legislature, female senators didn't get a dedicated restroom until 1988, when a facility was added in the chamber's cloakroom. There had previously been a single restroom in the senate lounge, and Sen. Shirley Marsh, who served for some 16 years, would ask a State Patrol trooper to guard the door while she used it, said Brandon Metzler, the Legislature's clerk. Advertisement In Colorado, female House representatives and staff were so happy to have a restroom added in the chamber's hallway in 1987 that they hung a plaque to honor then-state Rep. Arie Taylor, the state's first Black woman legislator, who pushed for the facility. The plaque, now inside a women's bathroom in the Capitol, reads: 'Once here beneath the golden dome if nature made a call, we'd have to scramble from our seats and dash across the hall ... Then Arie took the mike once more to push an urge organic, no longer do we fret and squirm or cross our legs in panic.' The poem concludes: 'In mem'ry of you, Arie (may you never be forgot), from this day forth we'll call that room the Taylor Chamber Pot.' New Mexico Democratic state Rep. Liz Thomson recalled missing votes in the House during her first year in office in 2013 because there was no women's restroom in the chamber's lounge. An increase in female lawmakers — New Mexico elected the largest female majority Legislature in U.S. history in 2024 — helped raise awareness of the issue, she said. 'It seems kind of like fluff, but it really isn't,' she said. 'To me, it really talks about respect and inclusion.' The issue is not exclusive to statehouses. In the U.S. Capitol, the first restroom for congresswomen didn't open until 1962. While a facility was made available for female U.S. Senators in 1992, it wasn't until 2011 that the House chamber opened a bathroom to women lawmakers. Advertisement Jeannette Rankin of Montana was the first woman elected to a congressional seat. That happened in 1916. Willner insists that knowing the Kentucky Capitol wasn't designed for women gives her extra impetus to stand up and make herself heard. 'This building was not designed for me,' she said. 'Well, guess what? I'm here.' Associated Press writer Brian Witte in Annapolis, Maryland, contributed.
Sydney Morning Herald
25-07-2025
- General
- Sydney Morning Herald
Does Brisbane need more street stalls and markets? This researcher thinks so
More street stalls and markets should be encouraged across Brisbane. That's the key finding of a new research paper, exploring the 'social and economic' benefits of shared public spaces. It also says trees and other greenery should be planted by council between footpaths and roads to better separate vehicles and pedestrians in the city. 'These kinds of spaces, they add quite a lot to the vitality,' urban planning associate professor, Dr Dorina Pojani, said. 'Street vendors make the city more attractive … people like them. 'The council should approve more, and if there are existing spaces that accommodate street vending they should be considered treasures and safeguarded rather than being allowed to fail.' The University of Queensland's School of Architecture, Design and Planning study compared street events in Brisbane – including the 'suitcase rummage' on Boundary Street and a footpath market in West End – to markets in the Indian city of Nagpur.
The Age
25-07-2025
- General
- The Age
Does Brisbane need more street stalls and markets? This researcher thinks so
More street stalls and markets should be encouraged across Brisbane. That's the key finding of a new research paper, exploring the 'social and economic' benefits of shared public spaces. It also says trees and other greenery should be planted by council between footpaths and roads to better separate vehicles and pedestrians in the city. 'These kinds of spaces, they add quite a lot to the vitality,' urban planning associate professor, Dr Dorina Pojani, said. 'Street vendors make the city more attractive … people like them. 'The council should approve more, and if there are existing spaces that accommodate street vending they should be considered treasures and safeguarded rather than being allowed to fail.' The University of Queensland's School of Architecture, Design and Planning study compared street events in Brisbane – including the 'suitcase rummage' on Boundary Street and a footpath market in West End – to markets in the Indian city of Nagpur.
The Journal
12-07-2025
- Business
- The Journal
'We wouldn't be able to have a child here': Renters and experts on the shrinking of apartments
QUALITY OF LIFE concerns around the government's plans to reduce minimum apartment sizes have been raised by both experts in housing and people living in already cramped conditions. The new rules, proposed by Housing Minister James Brown to cut building costs , would decrease the minimum apartment size to approximately the size of two and a half parking spaces and scrap rules relating to the maximum number of one-bedroom and studio apartments in buildings. The proposed changes, contained in the Planning Design Standards for Apartments, Guidelines for Planning Authorities (2025) bill, are understood to be aiming for a €50,000 to €100,000 cost reduction per apartment. The government hopes this will improve the viability of apartment building by seeking to address higher development costs, leading to more apartments being built. But sceptics have expressed concern that all that will happen is that people will end up living in properties that are too small for their needs. Leading housing expert, Orla Hegarty, Assistant Professor in the School of Architecture, Planning and Environmental Policy in UCD, has concerns about the impact smaller apartment sizes will have on families and children, and retired people. 'We can say that we aren't building this housing for families or people with children, and those who are struggling, but realistically, they will end up living there, because poor people need somewhere to live,' she said. '32 square metres is tiny, it's two and a half parking spaces, it's smaller than most hotel rooms. We're talking about effectively introducing slum conditions here', she said. 'In the 1930s the council in Dublin very occasionally built one-bedroom flats on the ground floor of housing developments, and a decision was made that that was not appropriate for people, because it's very unhealthy to cook in the room you sleep in, or as an older person, to spend all of your time in one room. Inevitably, once again, we will see retired people living in these units,' Hegarty said. Government plans would allow the creation of more studio apartments, such as this €1,107 per month Rathmines studio. As well as cutting the minimum size, the c hanges included in Browne's reforms include dropping mandatory communal facilities and allowing more one-bed and single aspect apartments in developments. Hegarty feels that questions need to be asked about the role of lobbying by developers in the decision-making process. She has previously given expert advice on construction costs to the Oireachtas Housing Committee, and questions whether the government's claim that developers could save €50,000 to €100,000 per unit with these changes. 'The costing doesn't stack up and there is no evidence for it, none has been produced to date. The apartments will have the same fixtures so all that is being reduced is the structural floorplan', she said. 'No trained architect would have supported this idea. Architecture is about understanding housing in terms of human needs, and there is an obvious need for space. Living, basically in one room, will greatly impact people's mental and also physical health,' Hegarty said. Hegarty also references the lack of public consultation on the issue, with no tenant organisations consulted part of the process, and she expresses concern that developers may seek to make changes to developments already with planning. Advertisement 'The Minister is talking about 57,000 apartment units that are already permitted. If those are redesigned it will have an impact on drainage, water supply, congestion, it will mean more people living in the developments effectively, so there are questions as to how that could possibly happen under the same planning permission, and as to the legality of that,' she added. This studio on North Circular Road is advertised on for €1,650 per month. Social Democrats TD Rory Hearne raised the issue of the 'liveability' of apartments in Ireland if the government were to proceed with the proposed changes and a number of people who already live in small units have echoed those concerns. Rory, who lives in a studio apartment in Dublin city centre, said the proposed changes would be 'tough going' for tenants and would 'probably have a knock-on effect for people's' mental health'. Rory said the hardest part about living in a studio flat is the lack of room to relax and cook. 'You probably tend to go out a lot more because you don't really feel comfortable in your own home', he said, highlighting that not feeling comfortable at home leads to 'unnecessary spending' on eating out. He said 'you wouldn't be looking forward' to cooking as constantly hits himself off cupboards or counters when trying to navigate his kitchen space. 'You're just trying to find space to open a press and not hit your head off it because you forgot how little room you have to manoeuvre', he said. He also finds it hard to relax in the evenings as he doesn't have space for a couch. 'Your living area is your bed', he said. He also feels reluctant to bring guests over due to the lack of space. Lauren Textor pays €1,150 (before electricity bills) to rent a converted garage in Celbridge, Co. Kildare, with her partner. She said one of the hardest things about living in her apartment, which is under 50 square metres, is 'having someone constantly in my space'. Lauren grew up sharing a room with her sister, but said sharing a room as a child feels less claustrophobic than sharing a small apartment as an adult. 'There isn't really room to be alone', she said, explaining that if she were to watch TV in the same room as her partner when he had headphones on, she would still hear everything as the 'space is so small'. The size of their home dictates many decisions Lauren and her partner make. 'We wouldn't be able to have a child here, we can't really have people over', she said, adding that it makes visits from her family in America difficult. She adds that she also only uses IKEA furniture made for specifically for small spaces, something she dislikes as a sustainable shopper. Lauren believes there are a many things they 'don't have the space for' that would make her life 'a little bit easier'. For example, the couple only have enough counter space for a kettle and a toaster. 'I used to love thrifting, now every time I buy something I think, do we have space for this?' Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
Hindustan Times
28-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
In birth centenary year, a new Satish Gujral work
In his birth centenary year, a significant and previously undocumented, unexhibited conte drawing titled The Condemned (1957) from the Cyrus and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala family collection, now adds to Satish Gujral's oeuvre. Compositionally similar to the oil painting of the same name, which was also made in 1957, this work ranks among Gujral's finest condemnations of the effects of war and forced migration, with the kind of seething, tragic intensity that set Gujral apart from his peers. With a major exhibition of his works poised for later in the year, this work may be the newest inclusion in a positive reassessment of Gujral's position among independent India's modernists. Among all of his peers who witnessed Partition in Punjab and Bengal, Gujral's works are the most visceral. Satish Gujral returned to India in 1955 in a blaze of glory after an apprenticeship for two years in Mexico under David Siqueiros. Training under the great Mexican muralists Diego Rivera and David Siqueiros against the backdrop of Mexico's response to the years of revolution, Gujral developed a temper for the nation as subject, as well as broad, free, open-handed strokes that he adapted to both his drawings as well as his paintings. As an apprentice to Siqueiros, the most politically radical of Los Tres Grandes (the three greats, Siqueiros, Rivera and José Clemente Orozco), and greatly influenced by the murals of Orozco, Gujral's own inclination was to adopt themes of social realism. The decade of 1947-57 became for Gujral a foundational expression of his response to the violence that he witnessed during the chaos of Partition. In the midst of Partition violence, he had driven a truck bearing refugees from Jhelum to Indian Punjab, and witnessed the barbarity of a brutal conflict as it played out. Gujral's work has often been likened to his own condition, but to attribute the power of his early works to his hearing disability would be doing the artist a disservice. He painted the charming reflective portrait titled My Sister (1951) but also the agonised Partition paintings, of roiling rage, and the enactment of violence, all executed with a powerful monumentality. Writer and art critic John Berger reviewed his exhibition in London in The New Statesman. Berger wrote: 'He is as single minded as Picasso… I am certain that his exhibition should provoke both humanly and artistically as many people as possible.' The drawing mentioned at the beginning of this article, however, was made after his return to India and has its own interesting history. Cyrus Jhabvala, an eminent architect who also headed the School of Architecture in Delhi, was very active when the capital city was in the throes of intense building activity immediately after Independence. With his firm AAJ, Jhabvala not only designed public buildings like Kirori Mal College, Max Mueller Bhavan and Telecom Building, but also the sprawling Kurukshetra University, which was realised over 10 years. Jhabvala was also enthusiastic about commissioning art works for the buildings. One of the artists he chose to work with was the young Satish Gujral, who was growing a reputation for rugged originality. Gujral did not disappoint. He designed murals in relief in ceramic, painted wood, and with tiles. The actual forms drew from primitive shapes and toys, even as he imbued them with a particular grandeur. While Gujral would continue to enjoy the patronage of Jawaharlal Nehru, and made murals for important State buildings like Punjab Agricultural University, Gandhi Bhavan and the Secretariat, in Chandigarh, Jhabvala openly disagreed with Nehru on the design of Ashoka Hotel, and did not take on any government commissions during Nehru's lifetime. Jhabvala, who also acquired two small works from MF Husain, probably bought The Condemned in this phase of Gujral's career. An artist himself, Jhabvala was fascinated with the simultaneous histories that Delhi inhabits. Many of his drawings are exquisitely rendered panoramic views of the grandeur of historic monuments and the chaos of ordinary street life, as in his work, Fakhr-ul Masjid, Old Delhi. James Ivory, collaborator with Ruth Prawer Jhabvala on his films, commented that 'Jhabvala's record is highly personal and subjective and at times, very precise — as precise as the 19th century photographs taken of the same are before and after the Indian Mutiny of 1857'. Among all of his peers who witnessed Partition in Punjab and Bengal, Gujral's works are the most visceral. While he is often placed alongside the Bombay Progressives who also graduated from the JJ School in Mumbai, or the Delhi Shilpi Chakra artists who had migrated from West Punjab, Gujral probably is more akin in spirit to Somnath Hore and Chittaprosad in his reading of the catastrophic event. More muted than his oil paintings, his drawings on the subject, such as Days of Glory (1954) powerfully depict women in mourning. In The Condemned, the solitary figure, probably the victim of rape, her body taut with pain and mortification, fills the frame. In contrast to the flowing lines of the figure, Gujral added hard-edged abstract elements to the fringes of this work, thereby enhancing the sense of pervasive violence. In his centenary year, Gujral will be celebrated as much for the depth of his broad-based practice — as architect, sculptor, painter and muralist — as for his passionate depiction of the human condition. Gayatri Sinha is a curator and art historian. The views expressed are personal.
