In Germany, for decades, there are special parking spaces exclusively for women, known as Frauenparkplätze (women’s parking spaces). This initiative began in the 1990s and aimed to provide more security to women, especially in underground and dark parking, where there is an increased risk of harassment or attack and statistically there were most attacks on them.

Why were these positions created?

The idea for women’s parking lots arose due to worries about women’s safety, especially at night. In 1990, the German government passed a law that enabled the cities and parking managers to create special positions for women to reduce the risks of crime in isolated parking.

These seats are located in bright places, near the entrances and exits of the parking lots, as well as near security cameras or places where there is guard staff.

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Where are these positions located?

Frauenparkplätze exists in many public and private parking in Germany, such as:

In shopping malls
In underground parking lots
On railway stations
In airports
In hospitals

The marking is usually a blue or pink signal with a woman’s figure, and the seats are slightly larger to facilitate parking.

These posts are not only committed to women, as there is no legal ban for men to park there. However, it is considered a respect for the initiative to be used exclusively for women.

Although the initiative had a positive impact, there were reactions:

Criticism for Discrimination: Some argue that female positions are a form of distinction and do not really solve the problem of security.
Inexplicability: Others believe that instead of having separate positions, it would be better to improve the parking security in general.
However, the majority of women appreciate the existence of these positions as they offer them an extra sense of security.