Placing a baby changer in your workplace can be tricky. It is often the case that it will end up in either the women’s washroom or the disabled facilities. Sometimes it is both if the area is larger and there are more potential places to put a baby changer. One area that is often overlooked is the men’s washroom.

Why is this? Why are the men’s washrooms not seen as a suitable place for a baby changer?

Is it because of hygiene, or is it gender bias? Or both?

Hygiene is one thing, unhygienic washrooms could be anywhere.

Gender bias doesn’t account for there not being a mother present. The father and child may be out without the mother. Therefore, it would be appropriate in these circumstances to have baby changing facilities in the men’s room. Unless it is deemed acceptable for a man to be in the women’s room.

It could be argued that the baby changing facilities are perfectly fine being in the existing location, if they are in the disabled facilities then that could be seen as acceptable, if not for the fact that the disabled facilities should be reserved for those who genuinely need them.

There can be dads who are single parents as well as same-sex couples. It could be argued that businesses need to do a better job of catering to more people. It’s a case of breaking down the conventions surrounding child care and making it something parents do and not something that only mothers do.

This is a cause that has been championed in the past, back in 2015, actor Ashton Kutcher took to Facebook to vent his frustration at the lack of baby changer in the men’s restroom.

One of the stores that Kutcher took aim at was supermarket chain Target, who after the petition gained traction, issued a response to Kutcher:

“Hi Ashton,

We appreciate the interest. As you’ve noted, at Target we are absolutely committed to creating a family-friendly environment and accommodating the needs of our guests. For the convenience of all of our guests, we have made changing tables a standard feature in both our men’s and women’s restrooms for more than 25 years. In addition, as we build new stores, we place changing tables in our women’s, men’s and family restrooms. In the event a changing table is unavailable, we encourage our guests to notify a team member and we will be happy to offer an alternative private location to meet their needs.

Molly Snyder

Target Public Relations”

Ashton Kutcher’s campaign was of course, US oriented. So what about the UK? Well, last year a campaign was started called #dadsforchange which shares what public facilities do and do not provide baby changers in the men’s room.

Now with the #squatforchange video,

the call for action is even more relevant than it was years before.

 

There’s still a long way to go before there is equality for public baby changing facilities.

Though as a small business, you can help steer the change in a  positive direction.

 

See our selection of baby changers online by clicking the image below.

Baby Changer

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