Frankfurt airport has caused controversy after it painted a section of its car park pink and designated it entirely for the use of women. Worse still for people striving for equality, the Ladies Parking section has bigger parking bays insinuating they require less skill to manoeuvre their vehicle safely into the parking spot.

    According to airport authorities, the new bays offer "a quick, safe and convenient way from your parking to the terminal."

    Airport officials said the bays are "bigger, nicer and close to the terminals."

    They added, "This is our exclusive parking offer at Frankfurt Airport for women only. With new and special designed parking areas, which are color-coded and easy to find."

    Women hoping to avail of the new parking zones have to find their way to the pink areas which are located in several areas.

    According to the airport's website, forward-planning women can avail of "early bird online rates" and save more than 50 percent on the cost of their parking.

    Geraldine Herbert, editor of Wheels for Women magazine told The Local that many areas in Germany have a requirement that 30 percent of parking spaces are allocated exclusively for women.

    She said, "It's very patronizing for women to be singled out in this way. All this does is reinforce the stereotype that women are bad at parking."

    Herbert said that all parking spaces needed to be increased in size to accommodate larger, modern vehicles. She branded the women-only spots as sexist parking spaces.

    Campaigners claim that women-only parking spots enable the introduction of better security and CCTV systems to help lady drivers feel safer.

    The German Automobile Association said, "We believe that in car parks, every parking space should be a 'women's' parking space.

    "This means making sure every space and stairwell is well-lit, avoiding blind spots and corners and installing sufficient electronic security systems - most importantly video surveillance and emergency call systems."

    Words to Learn 相关词汇

    暗示

    ànshì

    insinuate

    hint, suggest by remote allusion

    利用

    lìyòng

    avail

    make use of, take advantage of

    德机场女士专用车位引争议

    法兰克福机场近日将部分停车区涂成粉色并将其指定为女士专用，这一举动引发了广泛争议。对于那些追求男女平等的人来说，更过分的是“女士专用停车区”的停车位比普通停车位要宽敞，似乎在暗示她们即使技术欠佳也可将座驾安全停进车位。

    机场管理人员表示，新停车位会使您“快速、安全且便捷地从停车场到达航站楼”。

    机场官员说，新停车位“更大、更好且靠近航站楼”。

    他们还补充说道：“这是我们法兰克福机场为女士提供的专享停车服务。我们的新停车区专为女士设计，这一区域用彩色标出很容易找到。”

    这些粉色停车区分散在多个地点，那些希望使用新停车区的女士需要想办法找到。

    机场网站上称，提前计划出行的女士可以享受“网上预订优惠价”，可以省下一半以上的停车费。

    《Wheels for Women》杂志的编辑杰拉尔丁·赫伯特在接受The Local采访时说道，德国很多地方都要求划出停车区域的30%给女司机专用。

    她说：“以这样的方式给女性搞特殊化，施舍的意味很浓。这种做法只会强化女司机停车技术差的成见。”

    赫伯特女士说所有的停车位都需要加大以停下更大的现代车辆。她将这种女士专用停车位称作性别歧视车位。

    支持者称女士专用车位意味着更安全，闭路电视监控系统让女司机感到安全。

    德国汽车协会称：“我们认为停车场的任一停车位都应该是女士停车位。”

    “这意味着我们要确保每寸空间、每个楼梯口都要配备良好的照明，避免出现盲点和看不见对向来车的转弯，安装足够的电子安全系统，其中最重要的是视频监控和紧急呼叫系统。”