Made in China: Car park only for women

A shopping centre in China has opened a car park that offers women drivers bigger-than-normal parking spaces to accommodate what it sees as their special needs.

Wang Zheng, an official at the Wanxiang Tiancheng shopping centre in Shijia-zhuang city, said the women-only parking lot aimed to address women's "strong sense of colour and different sense of distance".

The spaces are "one metre wider than normal parking spaces," Wang said, adding that the mall had "installed signs and security monitoring equipment that corresponded more to women's needs."

The shopping centre parking lot also provides three lights in every parking space to improve visibility for female drivers.

Bright colors, such as pink and light purple, and cartoon pictures decorate the parking lot. Female parking guides have been specially trained to direct the drivers when they park their vehicles.