Perth is trialling a new initiative to try and keep women drivers safe while using parking lots. Perth’s Pier Street Car Park is just one of the places trialling 28 such bays.

The bays are painted pink and are located close to the entry and exit points of the car park to determine demand for the service.

Although men won’t be fined if they park in the spots they are being encouraged to park elsewhere.

One user of the parking bays has voiced her opinion on the pink parking spots: “These 28 pink bays don’t address drug users who go to the stairwells, or the people coming and trying to poke around your handbag when you are trying to pay at the pay machine.”

Another female driver says: “Anyone spending any time in that car park will know that nothing they’ve done here helps. Not to mention the inherent sexism of painting it pink.”

I have to say I agree with the above comments. This so called initiative is not dissimilar to the female-only carriages that Sydney is trying to introduce.

By segregating the female population from the male what it’s actually saying to women is that they need to adjust their behaviour in order to feel and be safe. So if in fact you chose to park in a non-pink spot and were assaulted on the way to your car – it would be assumed the attack happened because you did the wrong thing. And this is where I find the problem to be- it is NEVER the woman’s fault for enduring an assault or attack on her by a man. Nothing a woman does or doesn’t do for that matter, justifies her being raped, beaten or assaulted. NOTHING.

Having female only carriages, and pink parking spots does nothing more than perpetuate the notion that all men are dangerous and that women need to be kept away from them. And if women do not change their behaviour- i.e. dress a particular way, park in a particular spot or ride on a specific train carriage then they are somehow increasing their chances of being attacked.

I call bullshit on this notion. We don’t need PINK anything to keep us safe- we just need men to stop attacking us. Period.

Photos courtesy of Google images.