Männergarten

A Männergarten is a temporary day-care and activities space for men in German-speaking countries while their wives or girlfriends go shopping. The word is a compound literally meaning "men's garden", formed by analogy to kindergarten.

Historically, the expression has also been used for gender-specific sections in lunatic asylums, monasteries and clinics.

While a "husband chair" is the informal English expression for smaller waiting areas for men in women's clothing shops, Germans ironically call it Männerparkplatz (men's parking space), meaning "a place where men can be parked". The similar-sounding men's parking space in Triberg is however a marketing gag in a parking garage, where bays difficult to reach are dedicated for real men.

The first Männergarten in Germany opened in Hamburg in 2003. At the Bleichenhof Mall, each Saturday men were entitled for a flat fee to two beers, a snack and access to male-oriented amusements: a model railway, handicrafts, men's magazines and sport broadcasts.

The marketing concept was reported widely and received an ironic media response.Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung titled - "day care offer - have your man being taken care of per hour".

There were several copies and follow-ups. In Cologne, the locally famous Bier-Esel Inn opened the first Männergarten in North Rhine-Westphalia on Saturdays in its biergarten. Die Welt commented under the title "Here you get rid of your husband". Another restaurant in Hamburg offering churrascaria for coach tours introduced a special offer for such groups: while the women shop, men have fun in the Männergarten and on gender-specific excursions.

Some German municipalities have Männergärten as temporary events. Obernzell in Bavaria offered a weißwurst breakfast, lunch, coffee and schafkopf, a Nagelbalken competition and an entertainment programme with a local association showing historical Zündapp mopeds. On International Women's Day 2012, Xanten offered a men's day care programme in a computer shop. The same service, described as a Männerparkplatz, was offered in the Black Forest town of St. Georgen im Schwarzwald.

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Wikipedia