The mayor of Triberg in the southwestern Black Forest region of Germany has been accused of sexism after the town designated two tricky parking spaces as “men only”.
Gallus Strobel explained that the parking spaces in question were more difficult for female-gendered drivers because they required the driver to reverse into them diagonally without hitting a pillar and a wall. The move was met with delight by men who felt “discriminated against” by the presence of female-only parking spaces.
While Strobel’s move seems more than a little sexist, it is worth noting that among the 218 other spaces in the car park, 12 have been designated female-only. The 12 female-only spaces, which are made available for “women concerned about their personal safety” are predominantly located near exits and in the better-lit areas of the car park.
I distinctly remember an episode from my youth in I watched in awe as a young woman effortlessly reversed a Valiant station wagon into a parking space that sounded quite a lot like the two above mentioned men-only spaces. There was no way that I would have attempted such a feat then and I probably wouldn’t attempt it now – I prefer the low-hanging fruit. I’d rather stalk follow some random shopper back to his or her parking space so that I can park somewhere easier… and no I don’t care if I hold up traffic in the process. My point is this, if Strobel and his cronies want to have their little sexist joke, let them – someone is bound to scrape the wall or pillar sooner or later and then the joke will be on them.
