A Northwest China shopping mall is the latest to draw lines on social media after introducing pink, extra-wide parking spaces for women motorists.
The 12 "female-only" spaces are 1.5 times wider than a regular spot in the underground parking lot at the mall in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, Chinese Business View reported.
Mall employees explain the spaces, introduced in July, have nothing to do with gender issues and instead cater to their main consumer group.
"The reason we have this kind of parking space is because some drivers are bad at reverse parking and the majority of costumers at our mall are women," the garage manager told Chinese Business View.
The mall also has assigned employees to help direct female drivers into the parking spot and keep male motorists out.
So far, it seems female customers are on board.
"I've been to that shopping mall and I can park my car easily in just one try," said a woman who just got her license.
"I can easily open my door and there's room for a shopping cart," a customer posted on the mall's WeChat account.
"The pink makes me feel like a teenage girl again," said another neitizen.
But many online saw the spaces as reinforcing a tired negative stereotype.
"This is just showing contempt for women drivers" wrote Baise Refeng.
This is not the first time women-only parking spaces have driven Internet traffic. A Dalian shopping center saw mixed reviews for its similar parking spots in 2014. The city of Hangzhou also offered the same extra-large spaces at a highway rest area in May.
