Sexist, maybe? Extra wide, pink parking spots for women in China https://t.co/Q0wJIEIjqZpic.twitter.com/Ttpw8hGa3u
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) May 30, 2016
At a highway service area in the sprawling Chinese city of Hangzhou—around 100 miles southwest of Shanghai—you'll find some interesting looking parking spots.
Outfitted in pink paint and the universal, skirted "female" symbol, the parking spots are also around 1.5 times wider than the others, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Why? Let's just say that if you thought it was about common courtesy—an act of chivalry, perhaps, to give women more space—you'd be wrong.
“The bigger parking spaces are for women drivers whose driving skills are not superb,” Pan Tietong, a service area manager, told the state-controlled Qianjiang Evening News.
Oh. Maybe he just means some women?
Nah. From the LAT:
He said he had encountered female drivers who were unskilled at backing up into spots, and sometimes asked security guards to help them park.
The spots “are especially designed for women drivers,” he said. “It’s a humane measure.”
Unsurprisingly, this has sparked a debate across Chinese social media, with 63 percent of people in a Weibo poll saying they supported the parking spots.
But we can settle one thing here. Are men any better than women at driving? Of course not.