Parking reserved for females only?

I’m sure it’s not legal as a guideline for how parking spaces are distributed but it’s allowed if it’s just how the luck of the draw worked out. eg. if the women just happened to claim/pay for the spots first.

Maybe that’s just the office-joke to explain the turn out?

That’s for the quick reply. The general Manager has put out signs and even painted the spots. He also had a staff meeting and told the men that he didn’t want the ladies to have to cross the busy street and get hit. They don’t pay for these spots they are just given to them. He has threaten to fire any man who parks there.

I’m not sure if it’s legal but I’ve seen this done before, with certain companies. It is basically for the safety of the women. They believe women are more likely to be assaulted, on a longer walk to the building, than a man would.

Is it a public parking lot or owned by the company?

If it is public property, then the business owner cannot say who gets to park where.
If it is private property the business has the right to decide who gets to use it. Personally I would start looking for a new employer if I was your husband.

If this is a privately owned company, the boss can do whatever he wants.
He may be concerned the women would be walking across the 6 lanes of traffic with high heels, lugging bags and purses.

Welcome @HogWild to Fluther.
Discrimination is discrimination. When they fire that male, there maybe the new owner of the company after fired person sues for discrimination.

It’s a private lot. I was afraid that it might be as you said, however, it just sits wrong with us. I personally feel it should be first come first served. Trust me this road is not safe for anyone to cross on most days.

Thanks again for all of your answers.

At my job, the skybridge from the main building opens on the 2nd level of the parking garage. It is politely suggested that the closest spaces to the exit be reserved for female employees whose shift ends after dark. This is not enforced in any way. It’s only the company’s attempt at acknowledging safety and courtesy.

I would be highly suprised if this is legal from a ‘discriminatlion’ within the workplace perspective but in terms of parking sites on privately owned property, it’s his and he can do with it what he wants. I think wanting his female employees to be safe if leaving at night is admirable, but in doing so it sounds as though he is putting his male employees at risk. Perhaps the guys need to have a talk to him about their concerns or put them in writing and all sign the letter.

I’d let it go. Maybe the area is unsafe and he feels the women need or deserve extra protection.

As a man I would gladly park in the far lot. My hair is not done; I am not wearing a dress or high heels; or carrying a bag. It is much easier for me to tolerate inclement weather. Guys, put on your big boy pants and deal with it.
It would be really classy if the ladies supported the guys by parking in the far lot too. Any woman who did that would go up a few notches in my eyes.
It would also be nice if the ladies thank the men for doing it.

This is golden opportunity to show respect for each other. Don’t blow it.

I agree @LuckyGuy. I usually park further back because I figure I can run and throw a good punch as well as perhaps, some male with a broken foot or some other person who needs the closer spot. I’m also licensed to carry concealed but the bad guy would have to give me a chance to get to my car

I do wonder what will happen when he hires a disabled man who will need to park closer.

Completely illegal. Any guy could sue and win. And if the guy was injured crossing the street the company would be guilty of contributory negligence.

If the situation is really as you describe it—a generic ban on males parking in a particular area for no other reason than because they are male—then the employer is almost certainly violating workplace discrimination laws (assuming you are in the US, Canada, or the EU). The employer could get around this easily enough by designating the spots for employees of the month or some other concocted honor and then “coincidentally” bestowing them on the female employees only. That would be blatantly unfair, but it would be much harder to prove that it was discrimination (though it still would be if he did this just to cover his true intentions).

This is not a serious issue. Both sides can make it a positive experience if they handle it right. Who cares if the request is discrimination or illegal?

I usually park away from the grocery store entrance when I park. Why? Because I’m healthy and can use the walk. I let the less nimble, more overweight folks fight over the close spaces. Even parking far out in the lot I usually get into the store before the people waiting.
I figure it is Win-Win.

Pick your battles and fight over something that really matters.

@LuckyGuy, the men are having to cross a six lane highway (I’m guessing it’s a highway if it’s got six lanes) with no crossing or bridge. That’s a safety issue for the men. If it was just a bit further away I would agree that it’s was a non-event but there are safety issues here.

So, what the manager is saying is that women are either more valuable than men; or men are easier to replace; or women are not smart enough to cross a busy street or….....what?

Maybe he is just trying to be considerate.

Probably legal if it is considered a private lot. If the job is where the public shops, then it would fall under public even if it is a prvate company, but it does not sound like it is a retail establishment. It seems like he needs better parking period. The boss is asking his male employees to break the law probably by jay walking.

@LuckyGuy I like you more and more every day.

@Bellatrix When you say highway, do you mean rural highway? Six lane road can simply be a six lane road. They are all over the place where I live, and everywhere I have ever lived. Although, no light does seem like it could be a little dangerous. However, there are six lane roads in parts of America that slow down to 40 miles per hour through small towns, but I still am not trying to say the situation is ok.

Here a 6 lane road would most likely be a major freeway and people would be travelling at high speed. The OP might be able to provide more contextual information about the situation. I agree though, even if it’s not a road where people travel at high speed, with no crossing it doesn’t sound terribly safe.

@Bellatrix In America people don’t usually use the word “road” when describing a freeway (and just to clarify that we are talking about the same thing a freeway would be a road that has on and off ramp exits with no traffic lights). But, highway can mean freeway or rural highway, so it is confusing. And, I realize I just used road in my description of a freeway, LOL, but I hope it is all understood.

I know @JLeslie and I would agree that six lanes suggests ‘highway’ or ‘freeway’ to me. I didn’t want to use such a specific term though because we don’t know what type of ‘road’ as in a general term for an open way used for vehicles to travel on.

Hopefully the OP will clarify.

@Bellatrix Actually, in my original comment to you I was trying to say it does not need to be any type of highway, it can just be a Road, Boulevard, Avenue, Street, they do not have to have fast traffic in urban or rural settings, but six lanes usually has a decent amount of traffic on the road. They are everywhere in America. I only used highway because you did. But, I agree let’s see what the OP says.

I’m with @LuckyGuy on this one. I’m one of those ‘ladies’ who doesn’t wear high heels and traded in her purse for a back pack long ago. I would park in the far lot and cross the road, but I would petition to have a cross walk put in. All the men & ladies should petition to have a walk way put in. If it isn’t safe for ‘ladies’ to cross, it isn’t safe. Period. I would be devastated if one of my employees got hit by a car because I demanded they park somewhere and cross a busy street, especially after making such a big deal about insisting it was unsafe for half the population.

It depends on how I look at it. If I look from the perspective of the owner of the lot, I would say it is his/her property, he/she pays the taxes on it and maintains it, therefore should be able to say who parks on it. If I look at it from the other side, I am an equalist, I don’t want special treatment because I am a woman, I want equality, therefore, it should be first come, first served!

This boss would probably get massive eye rolls from me because he’s probably the type that calls his female workers “little lady” and crap like that. If the ladies can’t handle crossing the street where the men park, what on the job tasks can’t they do in this guy’s eye? What promotions are they going to be passed over because they are too fragile and delicate to handle it?

On the one hand, I feel like this could be a respectful (albeit possibly chauvinistic) approach. On the other hand, this seems like a lousy way to manage the necessity to provide safe parking for all.

Perhaps he could reconsider and have people who feel capable park farther away, leaving the closer spots for others.

High heels, hairdos and bags aside, I’d hate running across a street/highway when pregnant.

@Cupcake – The problem with “respectful” is that they frequently ARE chauvinistic. Men who do the “nice” things for women frequently do the “not so nice” things as well—like not promoting women because they fear the women can’t cut it—or they fear that men couldn’t handle having a “lady boss”. When you work somewhere and there are rules like this, as a woman, you HAVE to be on the lookout for other things. You will likely be expected to make coffee for the meeting. You will be expected to not get that raise because a man needs it for his family. You will be expected to get passed over for that promotion.

I worked in a glass factory office, which kind of had a blue collar mentality even though they were in cubicles and everything. I saw this stuff all the time. People would hold the door open for me, and apologize for saying a bad word in my presence. They’d also call me “Little Missie” and expect me to make coffee and bring in goodies to the meetings.

@keobooks I would say the Little Missie is more significant than the door holding. I bet @LuckyGuy would hold a door for me, but still promote me based on merit and never call me Little Missie.

Women are not equal to men when it comes to being attacked, what we wear (although I realize it is our own choice to wear high heels when walking to our cars) and generally our hair is more troublesome when caught in the wind or rain.

@keobooks Well, I don’t know what such statistics are… my boss holds doors open for me. He also highly respects me and relies on me to provide high-level data. He has supported promoting me as well as been very flexible in my schedule, both for me to get my Masters degree and for my maternity leave/family needs.

I don’t necessarily correlate considerate/respectful with chauvinistic, but I understand that your experience has been different than mine. I’m just questioning your use of the word “frequently”.

I agree with @rooeytoo but I love @LuckyGuy for his answers!

I hate the Little Missie crap, thank God my boss is young and over that kind of thing.

@LuckyGuy is pretty sweet.

@Chyna Women choose to wear high heels. If the men chose to wear high heels and carry large bags full of makeup can they use the close parking spots as well?

<—blushing
@JLeslie Yep. I’d hold the door for you any time .

The guys that are complaining have not figured out that there are precious few times in this life when you can actually step up and take one for the team.
Quit complaining! You’re employed and are getting paid, for gosh sake!
If you don’t like crossing the street, carpool with a woman who is driving in a less than full car! Use the opportunity to meet someone interesting and get to know them better..
Everyone can win. Honest.

(The only loser will be the complainant’s brother-in-law lawyer who is itching to “right this horrible wrong” – for a fixed fee or 33.3% of the settlement.)

@Blackberry I’d let you park in the close lot if you wore heels.

It is essentially a non issue, but it just makes me wonder how people want to be perceived.

Wow, just jumped online and saw all of the responses. I will try to clarify the best I can. The business is a RV sales and repair establishment. The GM has made it so that every female that works there has a spot to park in. And not trying to be mean but these woman are not wearing heels. We both understand he is trying to be a gentleman with allowing them to park close, but the sticking issue is that this “road” is a “parkway” and the traffic moves at a posted speed of 50 mph. And yes very busy and on rainy days it’s horrible.

As a female myself and also the wife of the man being ordered to cross that road it just sits wrong. He doesn’t want to sue or anything drastic. Just wants him to lighten up and if there are empty spots why not let them park there. They are open during daylight hours so that is not an issue.

My hubby is a disabled infantry soldier and is not afraid to walk long distances in good or bad weather. Again it’s the principal that the owner should try to find more parking or contact the city for a cross walk.

@HogWild Disabled vets wouldn’t have to rely on the boss for accomodation if I were a female employee there.
The whole point is that whomever crosses that freeway are risking their lives every day to get to work, so something should be done period.

I would encourage my husband to mention to the boss in a way like “Since the traffic has increased dramatically, it’s getting quite dangerous, is there anything we could possibly do to solicit a walkway over this freeway?”

@HogWild Well, parkway is a big deal, I agree it is unreasonable for any employee to have to cross a parkway. It seems odd that a place that sells RV’s doesn’t have enough parking spaces?! Certainly if there is an empty space a man should not have to park across the street, doesn’t make sense.

Oh, and welcome to fluther.

@HogWild, I think the boss is being ridiculous. Seriously, I think the guys should speak to him as a group, ‘man to man’, about their own safety in having to cross that road. Perhaps they get him involved in lobbying the council for a crossing? Are there other workplaces with employees that need to get to the other side?

If there isn’t enough parking for the staff generally, even if it isn’t just the men, people are going to have to cross that road and that doesn’t sound safe.

@HogWild Since you both work there how about car pooling?

Ohhhh for the days when employers didn’t have to hold an adult’s hand to cross the street. When I lived in NYC I had to cross all by myself!

I don’t think people drive 50mph in downtown NYC. And I think they’ve had crosswalks for a good long while.

@rooeytoo the OP has made it clear it isn’t a street. It’s a six lane highway. If you want to cross the Pacific Highway where it’s up to three lanes, I doubt you’ll find many men or women who want to hold your hand.

Off topic, but a room mate of mine was killed crossing the Pacific Highway. He was run over by 4 cars (estimated by autopsy and eyewitness report) in a matter of seconds. Yes he was dead drunk.. but still…

Thank you @bellatrix but I always managed to get to work by myself.

It is legal in Germany. And it has made parking for women safer.

When it comes to parking issues on private property the owner can do whatever they wish, unlike hiring practices. Regardless I find this to be an immoral practice by the company and I vividly disagree with those telling us guys to stop complaining. In fact I’m tired of the way our society treats each sex/gender so differently on issues that affect all of us. When women complain or are open to talking about their concerns it is called women’s rights, but when men do the same it is called ‘whining’. I think that Dr. Warren Farrell was on to something in his disposable male and myth of male power books.

Having now read the clarification from @HogWild I would suggest a letter to the boss who makes the parking policy asking to clarify and educate all employees.

“We realize there are limited spaces near the entrance that do not require crossing traffic. We ask that able-bodied employees take the further spots and leave the closer ones for all of our co-workers who have legitimate need for them. This may include veterans, pregnant women, or people with disabilities or injury.

If you are able to walk and run normally, count your blessings and take this opportunity for some cardio workout. High heels do not count as a disability. That is your fashion choice, bring some shoes that allow you to run and have some tater tots for lunch as your reward for walking a bit further.”