Public Baby Changing Facilities – Have They Improved For Dads?

I’m a father of ten year old twin girls so it’s been quite a while since I’ve had to change a nappy while out in public. What I do remember is that it was generally a nightmare! If I was shopping in town with the girls ten years ago, the possibility of finding a male toilet with a changing table was impossible. More often than not I’d have to resort to using the floor in a cubicle or the disabled toilet. Using a disabled toilet was something I didn’t like to do because obviously they’re not designed for me and they didn’t have a changing table so I would still have to use the floor but I guess the only upside was I had privacy.

Ten years later have things improved for dads. After all, they should have because the dynamics of families has changed so much. One of the biggest changes is that dads are quite often the main carer for their children. Stay at home dads are no longer in the minority. With this in mind, you’d think that public facilities would have improved dramatically over the years, but you’d be surprised to find that they have improved but nowhere near enough to take into account how many dads are now the main carers for their children.

I’ve recently been approached by Woosh who manage washroom facilities. They’ve also asked me to highlight the changes, or lack of changes, to baby changing facilities in male toilets. They’ve done a survey on whether baby changing tables are readily available in male toilets and have produced an article called Single Parent Awareness – Baby Changing Facilities. This looks at it in more detail. Just click on the title to learn more. So let’s look at some of results of their survey.

As previously mentioned, ten years ago washroom facilities for stay at home dads were quite frankly pathetic. Amazingly, in 2022, mens public toilets generally don’t include baby changing facilities. This is strange considering the world has come a long way with gender equality when bringing up children. The traditional parenting stereotypes have dramatically changed.

The Office For National Statistics released a report in 2019 that lone parents now account for 14.9% of British families. This is been a dramatic increase. One of the reasons for single parenting is relationship breakdown. Consequently this has meant many more men now take on the roles of cooking meals and changing dirty nappies. Unfortunately, as quickly as this changed, the world of washrooms has not caught up.

It’s recorded that there are now ten times as many stay at home dads in the UK in comparison to the year 2000. This actually equates to 14% of fathers who are now the main childcare provider. This in turn will mean many more fathers are out in public places with children so as a result, there is a greater need for child-friendly toilet facilities for dads. Sadly the case is that there is not enough child friendly toilets for dads and it’s something that needs to change quickly.

All female toilets have a changing table in, as do disabled toilets nowadays. If you’re a stay at home dad this is problematic. Obviously you can’t use the female toilets but also the disabled toilet is not designed for dads. Plus if you’re using it, a disabled person could be waiting a long time to use it which in all honesty is unacceptable. The solution is simple. Put changing tables in male washrooms for dads to use. Quite honestly, it’s beyond me why they haven’t done this on a larger scale. The world is changing so creating a space for men to care for their babies needs will make it one less thing to worry about for dads.

A lot of new modern built environments have now chosen to make their washroom facilities gender-neutral and fully inclusive washrooms to end the stigma of gender binary toilets. This will help fight the gender stereotyping of parenting so both mothers and fathers will be able to change nappies at a designated changing station.

Washrooms are still very much catered towards mothers and men have been completely forgotten. After reading the article I was staggered to learn that nothing has really changed in ten years. When it comes to gender equality in parenting a space needs to be created for dads to change their child’s nappy in a male toilet.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this subject in the comments below.