I have often wondered why feminism, which has dealt with so many important issues, seems to have largely ignored one that can, at least at times, be the most urgent.

I’m talking, of course, about the lines for ladies’ rooms.

A woman could write about this much better than I could (and as a man, I know I’m entering dangerous ground when I even mention the word “feminism,” and even more dangerous ground if I enter a ladies’ room), but I have a wife I love very much, and every time we go to an airport or to the theater, for example, she suffers in a way that I rarely do. She knows that if nature calls, she will have to go to the end of what can be a very long line of human beings, many of whom are physically not very comfortable.

We have joked about this a lot (actually, one of the things that has kept us happily together for more than 46 years is that we joke about everything). But this only hides what is a genuine problem and one that I, for the life of me, don’t understand hasn’t risen to the top of female concerns -- at least in the mass media.

Few scholars have ventured into this field, since they have probably realized that to do so might put their in the toilet. But one who has is Judith Plaskow, a professor of religion, best known for her work on feminist theology. Departing from such writings as her 1990 book, “Standing Again at Sinai: Judaism From a Feminist Perspective, Plaskow wrote this in her 2008 paper, “Embodiment, Elimination, and the Role of Toilets in Struggles for Social Justice”: “The topic of toilets is intriguing partly because it provides a vehicle for exploring many intersecting issues: bathroom design and distribution can perpetuate a wide range of social inequalities, and bathroom activism has the potential to bring together very diverse interest groups. In this paper, I will focus on some feminist issues surrounding bathrooms in the Western cultural context as an instance of the broader problem of toilets and social justice.”

Another who has focused on this issue is Kathryn H. Anthony, Professor of Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and and Women’s Studies at the University of Illinois. In 2006, Anthony wrote, “Each year, the President of the United States delivers his State of the Union speech before the U.S. Congress. If I were President, my speech would include an annual state of our nation’s public restrooms. I would bring up the current state of America’s public restrooms in dire need of reform. It is currently in transition and that progress especially for women and families, has just been all too slow.” (Neither Presidents Bush nor Obama has mentioned it in their SoU addresses, but perhaps our most likely next President will; after all, she’s been there).

So, obviously, the relative scarcity of women’s public bathroom facilities have gotten some , but nowhere near the attention other far less pressing matters have.

It’s not that women haven’t been very outspoken about other problems they have faced. For example, who doesn’t know that for every dollar a man earns, a woman earns only 79 cents (though that is up from the 59 cents I recall it was back in the ’70s, and at this rate, in another 15 years or so women will be earning more than men)? And anyone who spends even an hour on the Internet will know that many women complain about being treated as objects.

But my guess is that when you’re on line waiting to get into the bathroom, issues of earnings and guys looking at you as you walk down the street are the last things on your mind. Let’s face it: Relieving yourself can become an urgent priority that trumps (if you’ll pardon the expression) everything else.

For example, I remember my wife’s cousin telling us the he still felt years later because he wasn’t right in the room when his mother died.

“She was in the hospital dying, and I was in the room with other family members,” he said. “And it was getting close. But I HAD to go to the bathroom, I mean I HAD to go. So I did. And when I came back, she had just died.”

I said the most comforting words I could think of. “No need to punish yourself,” I said. “All this shows is that in two very different situations, when you gotta go, you gotta go.” (I am happy to report that he laughed a lot when I said this.)

After my wife returned from the ladies’ room the most recent time we were at the airport -- and come on guys, don’t you eventually get worried when your loved one says she’s going to the bathroom, and 20 minutes later, she’s not back? -- and we very soon afterward boarded our plane, the pilot announced that there would be a slight delay because his co-pilot had just arrived on another plane.

“She has to do some paperwork,” he said. “So it shouldn’t be more than 10 or 15 minutes.”

I turned to my wife. “Paperwork?” I said. “I’ll bet she’s just waiting on line to get into the ladies’ room."