German Town Makes Tricky Parking Spaces "Men Only"

[benji]

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/7655 ... -only.html

BERLIN — A town in southwest Germany has drawn accusations of sexism after designating two particularly tricky parking spaces "men only."

The mayor of the Black Forest town of Triberg says women would find it difficult to park there because drivers need to back in diagonally without hitting a pillar and a wall.

Gallus Strobel noted that 12 places in the 220-capacity car park are reserved for women. Many German cities designate a small number of parking spaces, usually near exits, for women concerned about their personal safety in poorly-lit garages.

Strobel told The Associated Press on Thursday that he had received overwhelmingly positive reactions from men who feel discriminated against by "women only" parking.

But the Triberg mayor says some "humorless people" had criticized the move.

[Andrew]

Taken at face value, it seems like a fair solution to curb attacks against women (presumably there's been a rash of incidents in the past?) and appease men who feel slighted by the arrangement of women-only parking spots. It does carry some unfortunate implications, though.

[koberulz]

Absolutely. The best solution to women being assaulted is to make sure they're kept inside as much as possible, while doing absolutely nothing about the people assaulting them.

This is so far beyond 'unfortunate implications' and into 'blatant sexism' it's just absurd.

[Andrew]

Who said anything about keeping them inside, it being the best solution or not doing anything else about the attackers?

[koberulz]

Who said anything about keeping them inside

That would appear to be the goal of the women-only parking spaces.

or not doing anything else about the attackers?

Sure, it's entirely possible that a culture where 'men are better drivers' is a notion so persistent as to be enshrined in law and in which women so routinely get assaulted that it's necessary to have parking spaces right next to doors for them to feel safe are entirely unrelated, but I somehow doubt that.

[Andrew]

I would've thought it was more about allowing them to avoid poorly-lit areas of the garage by cutting down on the distance between their cars and the exit, in the name of safety. It would also presumably cater to pregnant women and women with young children, so there's also that.

Of course, it doesn't fully address the problem of women being attacked in poorly-lit garages. It would seem that better lighting and security are also in order if this has been a recurring problem.

[J@3]

I endorse this movement and hope it spreads to other things