Dominik Bayer says he is concerned with no less than the "equal rights of men and women". It was this goal that he pursued.
A crowd of journalists and cameramen set up in front of him this Wednesday in the Administrative Court of Munich. And the 25-year-old law student apparently knows what the TV and radio teams want to hear. "I feel discriminated against as a man," he says in the direction of the microphones.
Equality is enshrined in the Basic Law and the Bavarian Constitution. But in the Upper Bavarian Eichstätt "measured with two different measures," says the man from the Rhineland. When he visited a friend of Eichstätt at the beginning of last year, he noticed that parking lots were reserved especially for women.
He complained about it. This Wednesday, the Munich administrative court had to deal with the dispute. In the end, they agreed on a compromise. The women's parking spaces remain, but must be signposted in the future.
Reaction to a rape case
After a friendly agreement, however, it did not necessarily look like it at the beginning of the dispute. The city Eichstätt could not initially understand the complaint of the young man. After all, in 2016 they did not opt for the expulsion of women's parking spaces without reason. A woman had been raped, the security of many women in the cathedral city had suffered.
The municipality therefore rejected 30 of a total of 420 parking spaces as women's parking spaces in a large public car park near the old town. The police have expressed their agreement, recalls Hans Bittl, head of the city's legal bureau. Since then there are eight blue parking signs with the words "only for women".
Nearby is a retirement home. There, many women worked, and they would have to get up early in the morning and at night, says Bittl: "Of the parking spaces in the first row, they only have a short, illuminated path into the old town." Some would be afraid if they had to travel a longer way over the unlit parking lot. "We did it purely for security reasons, because it's statistically proven that women are more likely to be victims of violent crime than men," said Bittl. Claimant Bayer contradicts: "The city does not come to mind that even men can become victims of violence." There are also small and weaker men.
No fine for men
However, Bittl points out that the signs, even if they look different at first glance, are "mere signs". There would be no fines if a man stands there.
Beyer sees his complaint, however, not only as an act for the benefit of men, but also of women. Because the Eichstätter signs would give the impression that "women are weaker". However, the court did not want to follow this argument. The proceedings will not address issues such as equal treatment and discrimination, chairman Judge Dietmar Wolff informed the plaintiff and later added : " By the way, we would not question the women's parking spaces if there are objective reasons for doing so."
However, the court was disturbed by the design of the signs. These gave the impression that there was a so-called legal license. This means that the signs give the motorists the impression that it is not a voluntary request of the city to the men. Rather, many may think they are required to keep women parking free.
The court therefore suggested re-signing the parking lots. The city wants to dismantle the old signs now until the end of February. The new signs should clearly show that they are only a recommendation.
"Victory for women's parking lots"
Bayer agrees to the compromise, so may the special seats remain. "This is a victory for the women's parking in Germany," says Rechtsamt head Bittl afterwards.
However, further complaints in other cities are quite possible if municipalities do not emphasize their voluntary character when signing women's parking lots. Because unlike a sign that indicates a disabled parking space, signs for women parking spaces in the Highway Code (StVO) are not provided. From ADAC's point of view, these should therefore "always only have a recommendatory character" in public space.
According to the Automobilclub, the case is likely to be the first case in which a court deals with women's parking spaces in public parking lots. Even a spokesman for the Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency is not aware of any comparable claim.
On private supermarket parking lots and in multi-storey car parks, special parking facilities for women are standard and governed by terms of use under private law. There, the providers have a much greater latitude than in public parking lots. Thus, for example, the complaint of a carer in Rhineland-Palatinate against his employer because he had set up women's parking spaces on the company premises, was unsuccessful. The carer had also seen himself as a victim of "male discrimination".
In the public sector, on the other hand, no driver has to expect a fine that puts his car in public parking spaces in areas reserved for women. An ADAC spokesman says his association has nothing against recommendations for women's parking. "If there is a compulsion, but we reject this, because it will reduce the parking area for the rest of motorists."
Unequal treatment vs. discrimination
By contrast, the Federal Association of Women's Counseling Offices and Women's Emergency Services (BFF) emphasizes the importance of women's parking spaces. "The sense of insecurity among women is often higher, that there are women parking spaces and these are not blocked by the men, is correct and important," says BFF speaker Anita Eckhardt .
If the legislature were to amend the Road Traffic Act, mandatory parking for women in public places would also be possible in the opinion of the Anti-Discrimination Agency. For substantiated reasons may be deviated from the prohibition of discrimination in the Basic Law. "The fact that women are more likely to be victims of sexual violence is one of the reasons, which is unequal treatment but not discrimination."
Whether one can imagine a change in the existing StVO in the CSU-led Federal Ministry of Transport, was not to be found out. A request to the Ministry initially remained unanswered.