Does my bumper look big in this? Chinese shopping malls installing women-only car parks (and yes… they have larger spaces)

Pink Ladies' Parking zones are decorated with pictures and have more room

Gender-specific parking zones are a growing trend in China's busy malls



Car parks in China have begun installing women-only zones to cater for female drivers who have trouble parking.

Painted pink, decorated with designs and with larger spaces, this underground car park in Tianjin, east China has been designed purely with women in mind. It even has pink digital signs directing women to the all-female parking zone.

This underground car park is beneath a building materials mall but it is one of several in a recent trend to cater for less skilled female drivers.

Ladies only: It is the latest in a string of women-only zones to have emerged in car parks across China. Above, this building materials mall in Tianjin, northern China, introduced a pink women-only parking zone last year

After a shopping centre in Shijiazhuang city, Hebei province, installed a pink, women's only parking zone, the mall official said it was to cater to women's 'strong sense of colour and different sense of distance'.

He also told AFP at the time the Wanxiang-Tiancheng shopping centre had 'installed signs and security monitoring equipment that corresponded more to women's needs'.

The LP - Ladies' Parking - zones appear to be a growing trend in China where the middle class is bulging and more people have the income necessary to buy and drive vehicles.

Ladies parking areas appear to be a growing trend in China where the middle class is bulging and more people have access to cars

However, the policy appears to be at odds with statistics on driving fatalities. A study titled 'Basic Characteristics of Road Traffic Deaths in China' published in January, revealed there were more than 67,000 people killed in road traffic crashes, including parking incidents, in 2009.

One of the significant risk factors was gender. But contrary to the apparent belief of the shopping mall planners, men have a far higher risk of crashing then women.

In the study, fatal crashes by male drivers were more than three times than that of female drivers.

The women's parking zones have larger spaces, ideal for the trend in larger vehicles

And regardless of the province, road traffic mortality rates were higher in men than in women, irrespective of income level and age.

While some women struggle to park vehicles, it would appear from the data that some men do also, although the study does not account for scratches and prangs while parking.

Lower car insurance quotes for women than men also suggests that women are safer drivers, regardless of reputation.

Coupled with a trend towards larger vehicles, more people driving and high fatality rates, perhaps all car parks should have larger spaces.

