| Women's priority parking spaces at a building in Jongno-gu, central Seoul / Korea Times file |
By Jun Ji-hye
Women's priority parking spaces at public buildings and other large-scale facilities such as department stores in Seoul will disappear, beginning this year, 14 years after the policy was first introduced.
According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, Wednesday, such parking spaces will be changed to family parking spots, so that a more diverse group of people can enjoy the benefits regardless of gender.
Women's priority parking spaces, marked with pink paint stick figures wearing skirts, were introduced in Seoul in 2009 as part of measures to protect women amid a series of violent crimes committed against women, especially in underground parking lots at the time.
The policy called for a move to allocate more than 10 percent of parking spaces as priority parking spaces for women, in car lots that can accommodate more than 30 cars.
These female-friendly car parking spaces tend to be closer to the entrances of buildings and are often located next to handicapped spots so as to increase the safety of women. Additionally, some are longer and wider than other parking spaces.
Women's priority parking spaces, however, have actually been perceived as women-only spaces, stirring up controversy in relation to female privilege and the effectiveness of the policy.
Critics say that such spaces have been seen as discriminating against men and further promote the stereotype that women are bad drivers, worsening the gender divide. They also said that those who really need the spaces were not properly protected because of female-centric parking infrastructure.
Family parking spaces will give priority to pregnant women or those accompanying them; those who accompany infants and toddlers and those who have mobility difficulties or those accompanying them, regardless of the gender of the driver.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government said a bill to revise a relevant ordinance has been already submitted to the Seoul Metropolitan Council.
Work to change women's parking spaces to family parking spaces will start next month, beginning with public parking lots. Currently, 16,640 public parking spaces are available in Seoul. Of them, 1,988 spaces are allocated for women's priority parking.
"The plan is aimed at giving benefit to a more diverse population," a city government official said.
Women's parking spaces have been seen throughout the world including in Germany, China, Australia and Indonesia, mostly to reduce the risk of sexual assault because parking lots were often dark and deserted. Similar controversies about discrimination against one gender and giving one gender an obvious benefit have been raised there.