This Bengaluru Mall's New Parking Lot Will NOT Let Men Park Their Bikes/Cars!

Many of us use public transport like buses and metros on a daily basis. One thing that you would notice in all these modes of transport is that some seats are dedicated to women. This is usually done to make their lives easier on a day-to-day basis. Nexus Whitefield, a mall in Bengaluru, decided to take things to the next level and came up with an idea where they created a parking lot only for women.

The videos and images of the newly inaugurated women-only parking lot have been shared online. They are calling it Pink Parking and, as mentioned above, this space is dedicated to women riders. In the video, we can see that a section of the basement parking lot of Nexus Mall has been painted in pink and white shades and even has dedicated artwork.

This initiative was done in association with She For Society, an NGO formed by women riders united by the goal of “Riding for a Purpose.”

The poster announcing the inauguration of this Pink Parking mentions that the space has been designed with convenience, safety, and accessibility in mind. We can clearly see that the Pink Parking area is well-lit and offers confidence to the riders who come to the mall.

The poster also mentions that they have opted for prime location slots for the Pink Parking, which will have enhanced security and easy access to the mall. While we agree with most of this concept, this is where we would like to differ.

Is it fair?

While we agree with the concept of creating a specific space for women to park their bikes, giving up the prime location for riders just because they are women is not something we understand. The post doesn’t mention much about the cost of the parking, but we assume it is going to be the same as for other visitors.

We feel that offering easy access and enhanced security only for Pink Parking is unjust towards other visitors. Instead of providing enhanced security just for Pink Parking, they should have ideally offered better security to the entire lot.

They should have also provided better lighting in the basement for improved visibility. A well-lit parking lot brings confidence to the mind of the customer, irrespective of their gender.

Gender bias even for parking?

By creating separate parking lots for men and women, the mall has actually done something that increases the gap between the genders. If the whole purpose of creating a Pink Parking lot in the mall was just to get women to the mall faster, then we feel the whole idea of equality is lost, as every person visiting the mall deserves the same treatment.

Parking lots or spaces are often filled on a first-come, first-served basis, and that should have been the case here. They could have created the Pink Parking space for women in a place where it wasn’t taking away the chance of a man or any regular customer visiting the same spot, as he has also paid for the parking. What are your thoughts on this new Pink Parking lot? Let us know in the comments section.