Dad's Struggle To Change Son’s Diaper In Men's Room Raises Calls For Parity
A Florida father is calling for diaper-changing tables to be installed in men’s restrooms after he was forced to squat on the floor of a public bathroom to change his son’s diaper.
Donte Palmer asked in an Instagram post “what’s the deal with not having changing tables in men’s bathrooms as if we don’t exist!!” It was subsequently reposted by The Shade Room, and has since amassed more than 550,000 likes.
A post shared by Donte Palmer (@3boys_1goal) on Sep 23, 2018 at 5:20am PDT
The lack of changing tables in men’s restrooms shows an outdated view of parental roles, Palmer said. Fathers, he told BuzzFeed News, “need to be seen as an equal.”
“We’re more than just protectors and providers,” he said. “We’re the stroller pushers [who] get up at 4 a.m. to warm bottles.”
He continued: “My wife and I, we share everything equally. We cook and clean. We work hard – equally. Why do we share equal responsibility but society views us differently?”
A post shared by Donte Palmer (@3boys_1goal) on Oct 1, 2018 at 1:00pm PDT
It is not only a mother's responsibility to change her child but also the responsibility of a father. A father is a parent.
Men's rooms should have changing tables!— StanceGrounded (@_SJPeace_) September 26, 2018
Good for him. I'm not sure who should be offended more when a changing table is only in the women's bathroom, the mom or the dad. Leaning towards the mom because of the implication that it's only a woman's job to change a diaper. As a dad it's infuriating.
— Michael Reeder (@ToonFanNC) September 26, 2018
Palmer’s gripe is familiar to many fathers.
A U.S. law requiring changing tables in both men’s and women’s restrooms in publicly accessible federal buildings was signed by then-President Barack Obama in 2016.
In 2015, the actor Ashton Kutcher famously lamented the lack of changing tables in men’s restrooms and launched a Change.org campaign to call for businesses to provide them. Many, especially large chain stores, now do.
In August, Canadian coffee chain Tim Hortons committed to installing changing tables in men’s bathrooms after a teacher, Chris Webb, made a complaint on Twitter.
Hey @TimHortons as you provide no other way to talk... I'm shocked and humiliated to have had to use the women's bathroom to change my child in one of your restaurants today. Your staff actually went out of their way to allow me to use it, but it's 2018 and both bathrooms should
— Chris Webb (@Crippit) August 3, 2018
Have a change table in them. Getting out the house with my 1 year old and going for lunch shouldn't mean that I have to explain myself to women as to why I'm in the women's bathroom. Brining this up to the supervisor in the restaurant I was told "it's ok the women don't mind"
— Chris Webb (@Crippit) August 3, 2018
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.