The unexpected virality of a speech about equity vs equality

While I am proud of every piece of content our team produces, I’m comfortable admitting I did not expect a clip about public toilets to blow up when it was published on Instagram in early August. 

The video, which runs for 88 seconds, is a small segment from our Deputy Managing Director Jamila Rizvi’s keynote speech about equity vs equality, which she delivered at the FW Leadership Summit in March. 

This is what she said:

“At first glance, the construction of public toilets seems reasonably fair. Two rooms of roughly equal floor space, as is required by building codes. However, because male-designated toilets have a urinal and cubicles, the number of people who can use the bathroom at once is higher than in a female-designated toilet. And even if male and female designated toilets had an equal number of stalls, it doesn’t account for the fact that women take more than twice as long to use the toilet.

Add to this, the fact that women live longer, so are more likely to be elderly or disabled and take a bit longer in the toilet. The data shows us that women are far more likely to be accompanied by a child, who may require assistance and care, both of which take time.  Most people who menstruate are women and they also use bathrooms to change tampons and sanitary pads, not just to use the actual toilet, again taking longer than men who walk in, use the urinal, hopefully wash their hands, and leave.

Treating everyone equally does not guarantee an equitable outcome.”

The response was instantaneous. While many comments praised Rizvi’s example for its incisiveness, others objected to its inclusive language in the phrase “most people who menstruate are women”.

Responding to her unexpected virality in The Age, Rizvi explained she deployed the phrase to “[ensure] transgender and non-binary people feel safe and welcome in spaces where they might otherwise be trepidatious”. 

If you had told me in January that FW’s most successful piece of social media content would revolve around toilets, I would probably have laughed and accused you of confusing us with The Betoota Advocate. 

At the time of writing, the post has 1.1 million views, 6,000 likes and 1,200 comments. I guess the toilet joke is on me.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by FW (@futurewomen)