Women's parking space

Women's parking spaces are specially designated and identified parking spaces in parking garages and parking lots to be used by women. They are usually near exits to increase the safety of women, to facilitate the act of parking, or to facilitate walking to shopping or employment destinations.

In contrast to disabled parking spaces, women's parking spaces are not designated in the German road traffic code (Straßenverkehrsordnung) and are therefore only allowed in private parking areas. However, as landlord, the operator of the parking facility can insist that these spaces be used only by women as long as it is not claimed that the parking facility falls under the rules of the federal road traffic code.

In some German states, women's parking spaces are provided for under garage regulations. For example, the garage regulations of North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein state that women's parking places:

In the garage regulation of Baden-Württemberg, at least 10% of all spaces in large garages must be reserved for women. The garage regulation of Brandenburg stipulates that at least 30% of spaces must be for women.

The German Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency stated on their website that the establishment of women's parking spaces does not violate the General Equal Treatment Act (Allgemeines Gleichbehandlungsgesetz), because women are more likely than men to be victims of sexual abuse.

According to the Hessian State Office of Criminal Investigation, the furnishing of women's parking spaces is an ideal means of raising women's feelings of safety. However, according to federal criminal statistics published by the German police, molestation and attacks on women occur no more often in parking garages than in other places. In Hesse, in 2003, only one of 1000 crimes in parking garages was sexual in nature.

A small town in southern Germany, Triberg introduced the antonym, the globally first men's parking spaces in 2012 and caused a major media hype. The two Triberg slots are based on a technical peculiarity, since the slots in question are much more difficult to maneuver into than normal spaces. The mayor of Triberg even explained that women would have difficulty parking there since the spaces require male drivers to back in diagonally without crashing into walls and a pillar. In fact, the mayor's exact words were, "But many also cannot park, like my secretary. Five times she tried and no success.” On a final note, to add a comical touch, these men-only parking spaces were even marked with "Mars" symbols.

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Wikipedia