Extra-wide parking spaces for women spark sexism row

Sexism row: the car park has introduced extra-wide spots for women
Weibo
Hannah Al-Othman30 May 2016

A Chinese car park has sparked a sexism row after introducing extra-wide parking spaces for women.

The female only parking spaces in Hangzhou, which are outlined in pink and marked with a picture of a woman, are 50 per cent larger than other spots.

A car park manager told Qianjiang Evening News the gendered spaces were being trialled for female drivers who have trouble reversing.

They were introduced in March and make up eight of the 370 spaces available, with a view to adding more if they are successful.

After a photograph of one of the spaces was uploaded to Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter, many users branded the move sexist.

"Where are the feminists? This is such obvious gender discrimination," one user wrote, while another said: "If you're going to discriminate against women like this, why don't we get larger parking spaces when we're taking our driving tests then?"

However, not everyone was in agreement, with one user defending the car park, writing: "They're not saying that women have to park there.

"They're just offering them to women who aren't good at parking. It's a great idea! Where's the discrimination?"

It is not the first time women-only parking spots have been introduced.

Female-only parking spaces have also been installed in the past throughout the world, but normally with women's safety in mind.

Spots are usually designated near entrances or exits in often poorly-lit car parks, but without changes to the sizes or shape of the spaces.

However, in 2014, the South Korean government introduced female-only spaces which were longer, wider and marked out in pink.

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