Diaper Changing Tables Coming To A Men's Room Near You

LOS ANGELES, CA — Dads across Los Angeles will surely rejoice now that they're being given more opportunity than ever to change their share of poopy diapers.

In a push to move away from "a gendered view of childcare," the Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to develop a plan to install diaper-changing stations in every public restroom at the 400-plus sites managed by the Department of Recreation and Parks. In an era when families, more than ever, are striving for egalitarian parenting, the effort would make it easier for fathers to share in the parenting duties.

The motion was introduced by City Councilman Joe Buscaino, and it was approved unanimously.

"Here in Los Angeles we pride ourselves on building a city of equity, but too often our infrastructure doesn't express that. Fathers continue to be more involved with childcare and are spending triple the time with their kids than they were in 1965," Buscaino said. "Our infrastructure has to keep up."

The motion builds upon another introduced by Councilman Jose Huizar and approved in 2017 that calls for the city to explore installing diaper-changing stations in all publicly accessible restrooms at City Hall as well as at all city constituent service centers.

Buscaino's motion did not state if the city already has some changing stations in women's restrooms at some park facilities, but said that "as parenting responsibilities are becoming more equally distributed between men and women, it is also important that the city move away from a gendered view of child-care by ensuring everyone has access to diaper changing stations in all public facilities."

The motion directs the Department of Recreation and Parks to report back with an audit of existing diaper changing stations in men's and women's restrooms on their sites and the feasibility of providing diaper-changing stations in each of their restrooms, regardless of gender.

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.