Pink Parks for the Ladies?
Who finds parking an easy task? I don’t mean the parking one does on a secluded country lane or in a quiet town. I mean parking in busy city streets; the parallel parking manoeuvre that, perhaps, is on a slope. Even some of the shopping mall car parks are quite tight to get in and out of. It’s one of the facets of driving that often is the least liked. Parking can be many drivers’ worst nightmare. Are women better drivers than men? Can men park better than women? I really don’t know the answer to that. I do know some very capable drivers from either gender, so I sit on the fence on this one. South Korea appears to have not-so-subtly suggested that some car parking spaces be left for the men and other parks be women-only!
I’m not sure that designating car parks by gender is all that popular, however South Korea has introduced parking spaces for women-only. Yes, they are different to car parks that the men can use; these women-only car parks are, in fact, longer and wider. They are also frillier and prettier with their pink outlines. Another feature of the women-only car parks is that they are labelled with a figure of a person wearing a skirt. That can only mean that these car parks are for South Korean women, and I suggest female tourists who hold a car license.
Do you think that this is a great idea? Who actually thinks that men are better drivers than women, or at least park better than women? I do find the every-day car parks around the shops are very narrow at the best of times – but that’s the same for everyone. Maybe those on the city councils, and shop owners themselves, are trying to create more car parking by narrowing the parks down, even more. New cars do seem wider than ever, even with smaller engines under the bonnet.
This is a fascinating topic. South Koreans have also resurfaced the pavements areas around the women-only car parks with a spongier pavement to make it easier to walk on in high heels. Also, these women-only parking areas a placed closer to the shops, receive better lighting, and I think have toilets for ladies close at hand. Men caught parking in pink women-only car parks receive a hefty fine.
Is this something we need to look at in Australia? It’s certainly a very gallant and endearing way of charming the ladies!
Level 2, 9 Help Street