Women Only Parking Spots in Korea

You might have seen a rash of articles and notes making the round on Facebook, Tumblr, and the rest of the internet recently about women only parking spots in Korea. I’ve seen a ton of them. They’re from several different places. At first, I laughed it off, then I got annoyed. This stuff was getting shared a lot. So, I wanted to chime in and try to set the record straight.

Why this is annoying.

You see, these articles that are going around – most of them, anyway – have this terribly condescending, misogynist vibe to them. They insinuate that these parking spots were introduced as a result of women being such poor drivers that they’re unable to park a car in a normal space. Some articles even said, incorrectly, that the spaces are larger than other spaces. This is all ridiculous.

What’s the real deal?

To begin with, yes, there are women only parking places in Korea. But this isn’t new! These were widely introduced many years ago. Why has this become a thing to report on and share now? Some of these articles say that the spaces are wider and easier to park in – presumably because women can’t drive as well as men. That’s also not true – all of the spaces I’ve seen or heard about are the same size as regular spaces. There’s no misogynist vibe to these parking spots.

The reality is that these are more like family only parking places. They’re for people who have babies, strollers, and things. They’re for expecting mothers. They’re for families. The parking places are simply closer to the door of whatever shop or business they’re located at.

Thankfully, Mashable caught on to this ridiculous string of articles and posted a great rebuttal. But MSN, NY Daily News, and more – along with who-knows how many social media users, spread a ton of bad information about this without bothering to check it out. How disappointing.

Check out my video about the topic below.