The picture posted online of one of the spaces, with pink lines and a female icon painted on the ground, has sparked a feminist backlash

Cheeky Chinese car park managers have introduced extra-wide parking spaces for women.

The spots in Hanghzhou, on China’s east coast, are one and a half times the size of a normal space and are being trialled, according to bosses who spoke to the Qianjiang Evening News, because ‘woman have difficulty parking in reverse’.

But a picture posted online of one of the spaces, with pink lines and a female icon painted on the ground, has sparked a feminist backlash.

The photograph was uploaded to Weibo, China’s version of Twitter.

And it soon attracted dozens of reactions, with many calling it sexist.

One Chinese poster wrote: “Where are the feminists? This is such obvious gender discrimination.”

And another said: “If you’re going to discriminate against women like this, why don’t we get larger parking spaces when we’re taking our driving tests then?”

But others disagreed: “They’re just offering them to women who aren’t good at parking. It’s a great idea! Where’s the discrimination?”

According to Shanghaiist.com, there are only eight of the ‘women’s’ spaces available at the 370 space car park, but bosses at the facility say they will consider introducing more if they prove successful.

Last year, Frankfurt airport was attacked for introducing ‘ladies parking’ areas complete with pink paint and wider spaces.

Geraldine Herbert, editor of Wheels for Women magazine said at the time: “It’s very patronising for women to be singled out in this way.

“All this does is reinforce the stereotype that women are bad at parking.”