Shijiazhuang, China
(image via: China TravelGuide)
Shijiazhuang, the capital of China’s Hebei Province, has ballooned from a sleepy backwater to a booming industrial powerhouse seemingly overnight. These days over 1.35 million vehicles ply the city’s congested streets and vie for an increasingly insufficient number of parking spots. Amid the car-carnage there blooms a pink oasis, however, and in order to enjoy it one must be female.
(images via: Culture Town, Tjchewei.com and WSJ China RealTime)
Tiancheng Enterprise Group’s newly-completed Wonder Mall boasts three parking lots but only one of them – the well-lit, colorfully painted women’s parking lot, really stands out. The 1,600 square meter (17,225 sq ft) lot can accommodate only 50 cars because each space is a whopping 3.2 to 3.3 meters (10.65ft) in width. “It’s wide enough that even when the doors of two neighboring cars are all fully open, they won’t come up against each other”, explains says Mr. Wu, a Tiancheng Enterprise Group manager in charge of the lot’s design. It gets better: six women guides are on duty, assisting drivers as they perform difficult parking manoeuvers using dance moves… we repeat, dance moves. “Of course, it’s not real dance,” states Mr. Wu, “we just want to use graceful body language to bring a pleasant feeling to our customers, and at the same time show the uniqueness of this parking lot.” Mission accomplished, Mr. Wu.
Tyrol, Austria
(image via: Chanakya’s World)
I see your Sound of Music and raise you the sight of women-only parking. The well-worn double parking spot above can be found in Tyrol, Austria, and by the looks of it has been there for some time. No pink, no flowers, no dancing attendants, no nonsense: those Austrians don’t fool around when it comes to giving their frauleins a platz, er, place to park. Hopefully the local lasses approve and say “I’ll be back.”
Seoul, South Korea
(images via: The Moleskine and Tjchewei.com)
Seoul has lots of women-only parking… well, one lot at least and at least it’s not pink. Once inside, however, that presumptive shade rears its head again. Does the color pink possess some sort of kryptonite-like effect on men evil enough to consider parking in a designated women-only parking space? It must, or it wouldn’t be used so often.
(image via: Marshall Astor)
Seoul went out of its way to make women visiting World Cup Park feel welcome… high five, ladies! Kudos to Flickr user Marshall Astor for the image above, which features a possibly women-unfriendly mascot character welcoming female drivers to their reserved-for-women parking places. Got a women-friendly soul? Then get your vehicle to Women Friendly Seoul!

