It’s been revealed that there are less than 100 baby changing facilities available to the public on London Underground, TFL, London Overground and Tram lines.
Only 77 of 636 toilets, 51 within London underground tube stations alone, provide baby changing meaning stress and inconvenience is put onto parents when out in the city with their children.
As a result, parents and carers are forced to change their children, most commonly by squatting against a wall and laying the children over their legs for support. Some have been reported to have changed their children in the stations or having to disrupt their journeys by leaving a station and finding toilets near-by in outside establishments.
This issue is particularly difficult for those with disabled children, as required access needed is not available frequently enough throughout London and near to the underground stations. As a result, parents and carers are taking their children out less when alone, due to the fact there are not enough facilities to accommodate them within their trip, making it difficult and unpleasant.
For fathers and male carers, this isn’t something new as most male toilets do not have baby changing facilities at all, according to non profit charity, Squat for change.
Lone Parenting in the UK
According to ons.gov.uk, 55% of lone parent families had at least one dependent child in 2017. This statistic is higher than married couples (40%) and cohabiting couples (51%). Since 2017 the number has been growing for single parent families which was set at 2.8 million in the UK. Statistics for 2020 are yet to be revealed.
As the statistics show, parenting at least one child is higher for lone parent families, giving a clear indication that the role of a parent is much harder alone.
Dadshouse.org reveals that in London 2012, there were 16,473 single fathers, predominantly in the Croydon area holding the 1,037 statistic. There were 180,366 absent fathers calculated, meaning they do not live with their children but are likely to look after them alone and use public toilets when taking them out for the day.
The number of male lone parents is likely to have gone up since 2012, as, according to The Guardian, a new clause was in draft for the Children and Families Bill on 'shared parenting' attempts addressing fathers' access rights and how they may have been unequally treated compared to mothers.
Laws on baby changing
While there are no laws that require baby changing to be installed, it is encouraged to avoid legislation against businesses and establishments in other areas such as heath and safety. It is advised to have baby changing available in more family friendly environments such as nursery’s, shopping centers and restaurants. It should be considered within travel, but in some stations, there are no facilities available, which isn’t against the law but may seem unethical. According to The Economist, 3.7M people use the London tube service every day, including parents and children.
In many places where there are facilities available, they are only catered for women, causing problems for fathers out alone. According to the Daily Mail, A father from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, was barred from popular food chains Caffe Nero, Pizza Express and Strada from using the baby-changing facilities after pointing out they were all for women.
It is worrying that even some of the top high-street chains that claim they are family friendly are catering more so for mothers than fathers. It is a problem that has been set into society providing the idea that the dominant parent is the mother, and the father is almost overlooked. In a world where genders are crossing and roles are reversing, the stereotypes are being challenged every day, with campaigns and charities getting their voices heard. One of these charities is called Squat for Change and addresses the issues of baby changing and fathers.
Squat for Change
Squat for Change, a non-profit charity created by Donte Palmer, broke the internet last year when the issue of male restrooms having a lack of baby changing facilities was made aware of. A photo his son took while helping him change his younger son went viral as it showed the struggles fathers go through when out with their children.
“It started last October when a photo was taken by my 13-year-old son. Prior to the photo, I never thought about it, I just did what I had to do. He showed my wife after he took it and we laughed about it; we were in a restaurant at the time. She said that was different and that she’d never thought about how men don’t have changing tables and then two weeks later we put it on Instagram. We only had about 300 followers and didn’t expect it to blow up and be the social movement it became.”
The charity has made people more conscious to the lack of baby changing in men’s restrooms and inspired the investigation into the accessibility within London rail services. He has even managed to partner up with big international companies such as Pampers and P&G. Palmer went on to explain how the installment of the tables needed are un-costly and how mindset is the bigger problem to tackle within the issue.
“These changing tables are rather cheap, around £150-£200. They require almost zero maintenance as they only have to be cleaned. I don’t understand why they aren’t in restrooms.
“It’s definitely a stereotypical thing. Society views parenting as a mother role primarily, but our children need their dads and society haven’t changed their mind set on what it takes to be a parent. Restaurants will say family friendly, but dad isn’t welcome because dads don’t have half as many resources as mums.
“Society has lost sight of the father in a family unit and we need to change the narrative of what a parent looks like. My wife changes my child’s diaper around 5% of the year because I like to have that bond with my children when we do it, so it kind of takes this away from us dads.”
But, it’s not just mindset that stands in the way of installing these facilities, Palmer explains how backlash to the campaign concerning money has become popular among the owners of restaurants and entertainment establishments, which could include London transport services.
“I’ve had Restaurant owners reach out to me saying ‘thanks, now I have another tax bill’.
“We need to change the mindset of business owners and break that barrier. If they installed more facilities, there would be more clientele and more money going into their businesses.”
This idea of ‘breaking the barrier’ should be considered within TFL services, especially for the stations that provide no toilets at all. With public transport in London revolving around the idea of making the publics travels more convenient, why not make every aspect of the travel experience available and easy?
Statistics
The number of toilets on London underground, Trams, TFL and London Overground lines (according to the TFL toilet map):
Cover image by Leon Warnking via Pexels
This piece was created for an investigative journalism module during my third year at the University of Westminster - It received a 1st class grade