I was on the 143 bus in Seoul when I saw this women-only parking lot. I recently had read about women-only parking spaces in Iksan, a city in the southwestern part of South Korea, but didn’t know that they also existed in Seoul. According to Korea Beat:
“The city of Iksan in Jeollabuk-do has created “pink line parking” for women drivers in public parking lots.
[…]
The “pink lines”, painted pink, are 2.5 meters wide rather than the standard 2.3, offering aid to women drivers unskilled at parking. The city will also install 34 street lights and 194 guard lamps in high-crime areas to create safer streets.”
I don’t know if the purpose of the parking lot I saw on the bus is to help unskilled female drivers or keep women safe, but it raises interesting questions about the perception of women drivers.
Tags: parking, safety, seoul, sexism, south korea
themoleskineblog.wordpress.com 
June 3, 2009 at 11:40 pm |
I could be wrong, but I suspect the “unskilled women drivers” angle is an invention of the reporter. But I’m working on a longer article about women-only spaces in Korea, so perhaps more details will come out.
June 4, 2009 at 8:52 am |
I wondered about that too, looking forward to reading your more detailed article.