Unisex baby changing facilities in public toilets
Fathers who are out alone with their baby or toddler often face an unreasonable problem when they have to change their child. There are hardly any changing tables in the men's toilets in Switzerland, which is why fathers would have to switch to the women's toilets and often don't dare to do so. It's time for unisex changing rooms.
Why fathers want a changing table
It is unpleasant for men to visit a women's toilet, but this cannot be completely avoided when the child needs to be changed. Many managers of public facilities are aware of the lack of changing tables in men's toilets. Currently, there are changes only in the rarest of cases. It is desirable for both men and women to be able to use their own area without feeling uncomfortable.
Fathers are far from being equal. The image that men once helped to create still prevails: Women look after the children. They alone decide about nappies, wound cream and wet wipes. An outdated role model, but fathers must assert their rights just as much as women, who must be paid equally for services, who must occupy strategic positions if they are qualified.
There is no question of qualification when changing a child's nappy, but there is talk of entitlement. Fathers are entitled to this just as much as mothers. With regard to changing a child in public toilets, there has long been a demand for a changing table in every men's toilet. A glance at Scandinavia is enough to realise a European idea that would immediately solve the problem of the lack of changing tables in men's toilets.
Neuter toilets in public buildings
As in New York, the Fenno Scandinavians in Europe have also thought about the lack of changing tables in men's toilets and have found interesting solutions for this, which can also be a model for the Swiss.
Although not yet nationwide, but at least further than in Switzerland, men are allowed to enter a toilet without hesitation to change their child on the changing table. The changing tables are located in a neutral room with gender-specific WC separation. Fathers do not have to fear sceptical looks from women who visit the toilet.
Not so new in Fenno-Scandinavia are neutral toilets. In these, there are only cubicles that protect against the gaze of third parties. At least one of these cubicles is a nappy-changing room, where fathers, mothers and divers change their babies and toddlers without shame.
Transsexuals face the same problem as men born with all masculine characteristics. If a father comes into the ladies' toilet with his child, he should announce himself before entering the room. Whether as a born or transsexual father does not matter, the external characteristics decide the following reaction of a woman at the sight of him, who may only be surprised or briefly frightened. If she is verbally prepared for it, hardly any woman is likely to have anything to oppose it. On the contrary, most women will be helpful if something doesn't go right the first time during diapering.
In Switzerland, it is time for a change, towards equality for both parents, so that fathers can change their children in public toilets without justification.
