Women-only pink parking spaces turn into family-friendly spots

Women's priority parking spaces at a building in Seoul / Korea Times file

By Lee Hae-rin

Women-only pink parking spaces in Seoul disappeared, Monday, 14 years after they were first introduced to assist and protect women, replaced by family-friendly spots the following day.

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the revised ordinance on allocation and management of parking spaces is enforced starting Tuesday.

With the revision, women's priority parking spaces, marked with pink paint with a stick figure wearing a skirt, will be changed to family parking zones, marked with orange paint with three different stick figures: a person holding a cane; a person holding a baby; and a pregnant woman.

The figures reflect the expansion of the group of people who can benefit from the parking space regardless of their gender and age, while still addressing the needs of parents with young kids and pregnant women drivers.

The pink parking policy was introduced in Seoul in 2009 as a protective measure amid a series of violent crimes committed against women ― especially in basement parking spaces.

Over 72 percent of violent crimes committed in parking lots ― 168 out of 233 ― were sex crimes, including sexual assault and sexual harassment, according to annual police statistics from 2020. Over 27,800 crimes from that year were committed in parking spaces, taking up 1.8 percent of total crime cases.

The policy allocates more than 10 percent of parking spaces as priority parking spaces for women in parking lots that can accommodate more than 30 cars.

Such female-friendly parking spaces tend to be located closer to the entrances of buildings, next to handicapped spots or elevators to increase the safety of female drivers. In Seoul, 1,988 out of 16,640 public parking spaces were allocated for women's priority parking as of March.

Unlike parking spaces allocated for people with disabilities, women's priority parking spaces are not subject to fines for improper use.

The policy stirred up controversy in relation to female privilege and instigated online debates on the worsening gender divide by promoting the stereotype that women are bad drivers, where some argued the policy should endorse not only women but also other drivers with mobility needs.

In response, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon announced last August that the city will transform women's priority parking into family priority parking. The usage rate of the pink parking spots has remained low at around 16 percent, according to the city government.

Women's parking spaces have been adopted in other countries, including Germany, China, Australia and Indonesia, mostly intended to reduce the risk of sexual assault in parking lots, which tend to be dark and deserted. Similar arguments referencing reverse discrimination and the potential for greater harm to come to women as a result of the designations have been raised in those places also.