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China opens women-only car park with wider spaces

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In what sounds like a news story straight out of the 1960s, a shopping center in China has opened a female-only car park that features wider parking spaces and is painted pink and light purple to “appeal to female tastes.” An official associated with the lady-targeted parking lot claims the design is intended to accommodate women’s “strong sense of color and different sense of distance.”

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Comments (16)

Dec 28, 2009
Pooja said...
LOL! How Hilarious is this! But yaaaay I like it. Also the purple and pink color scheme will be quite appealing to women.
Dec 28, 2009
psyched4life said...
Female Psychologist addicted to driving stick-shifted autos, mother of four and, even before that, a feminist re equal access to opportunity for all. Not a personal ad but all the reasons I should find this appalling. Even so, and even with the suspicion by some researchers that the differences in spatial abilities unearthed in psych research may not be significant or even real, I think this is a great idea and a victory for women. Picture it- mood-enhancing color, wider spaces, less testerone-driven road rage, and showing your purchases to others in the parking lot like men share their golf stories after a round on the greens. What's not to like?
Dec 28, 2009
Pooja said...
I like the showing your purchases to others in the parking LOL. Good concept. Kudos
Dec 29, 2009
Yaeli_Space said...
Perhaps y ou need to be Chinese and live in China to understand that. But if I look at it from my eyes It's unnecessary
Dec 29, 2009
Ian May said...
I am writing this tongue-in-cheek really, but I guess this could be construed as sexist. Why should women get more space to park because it is presumed that they can't park very well? Then again, some women could see it as insulting their driving ability.
Dec 29, 2009
Ed Rovera said...
Rather than a national put-down of females and their supposed deficiencies in driving and parking, might wider spaces be a great marketing ploy? If you have ever watched a woman trying to get a baby carriage out of the back seat of a compact car or wondered how an obviously pregnant woman were going to get into her car when people have parked inches away from either side, you start to see how wider parking spaces would appeal to women. My guess is that Chinese women will shop more frequently at places where they know they will be able to get in and out of their cars with the least difficulty. If I'm right, and since most purchases are made by women in this country, you may well start seeing women-only parking areas at the local mall sooner than you think.
Dec 29, 2009
Ian May said...
As I said, my comment was tongue-in-cheek, and isn't my own views of most women's driving abilities. There are incompetent drivers of both sexes on the road of course.

As for space, I agree there could be more in many places. Generally speaking in the average US parking lot there's a reasonable amount of room, but it's not so in many other countries, such as the UK, where the average space in a car park there is surely meant for a mini or smart car!

As for the Chinese themselves, it's a pity they can't get into the 21st century with their human rights record before they start on these parking spaces. Only yesterday they executed a mentally ill Briton after a trial that lasted only 30 minutes.

Dec 29, 2009
JeronStadham said...
Men at work
Dec 29, 2009
jwallace said...
I see only green, yellow and red. no pink or purple,.. was this really done to please women or was/is there another purpose? I don't think it would work in the US..not to mention that is generalizing..the Chinese..who have HIGHLY RESTRICTIVE internet laws and governance..will brand you with internet addiction before you can say "buh buh.." really believes in that theory about women PROACTIVELY.. they are all over the place. but if I said more, I'd bet they'd have their higher "hackers" find my identity and have me labeled.
Dec 29, 2009
laineyd7 said...
Some say sexist, I say personal space and safety considerations may make this helpful to women. I don't automatically assume that it's a slander to women's abilities behind the wheel of a car or their fondness for shiny pink and purple things. As Ian said, though, perhaps other more pressing issues need to be addressed . . . .
Dec 29, 2009
Edmond Lu said...
Right, because this shopping mall and their parking spaces are obviously an effort from the Chinese government itself to make shopping more appealing to women. Speaking of which, I'd love it if my local shopping mall to tried to close down Guantanamo Bay and resolve world hunger before it started thinking about renovations and profits and the like.
Dec 29, 2009
Maximiliano said...
It's pretty simple to me.. They're getting ready for the new Hummer automobiles, since it's now a Chinese brand.
Dec 29, 2009
Ian May said...
OK Edmond, point taken. I'm just pissed at the latest travesty of human rights in China.
Dec 29, 2009
Edmond Lu said...
That's fair enough, and I meant no offense. It just annoys me when people regard everything done in China as a "national effort" of sorts. After all, most are largely uninvolved in the politics of the country, just as they are here.
Dec 29, 2009
Ian May said...
I guess many of us are guilty of 'tarring everybody with the same brush' at some point or another. One can't of course generalize about everyone in any particular country, but unfortunately we often do.
Dec 30, 2009
Hill Roberts said...
Now why didn't I think of that myself???

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