We’ve all seen parking places designated for the handicapped and for expectant mothers, but leave it to China to take that trend to a new and controversial level.
It seems that a handful of new parking spaces at gas stations in Zhejiang province have been marked for female drivers only. The spaces are 10 and a half feet wide (one and a half times the usual width) and are marked with a large black stiletto heel logo on a pink background.
The Australian Broadcasting Corp. reports that “the purpose of the spaces has been hotly debated on Chinese social media site Sina Weibo, with many netizens saying they reinforce the stereotype that women are bad drivers while others say it is a considerate design.” The new spaces “join a growing number of extra-large designated women parking spots being unveiled around the country.”
South Korea, the network reports, also has women-only parking spaces, “outlined in pink and marked with a pink skirt-wearing figure.” (The question of where to park one’s automobile is presumably not an issue in neighboring North Korea.)
Of course, women have it rough in China. The country has 34 million more males than females because of a longstanding preference for boys when the government cruelly limited couples to one child. Maybe the new parking spaces are a respite from an overabundance of aggressive male drivers.
