Dad’s parking appeal spurs inclusion debate
GROCERY STORE CHANGED POLICY AFTER COMPLAINT
A new father’s successful appeal to make a new-mothers parking spot more inclusive has prompted a debate stoked by what one observer calls the “oppression Olympics.”
Justin Simard prompted a Sobeys grocery store in Stratford, P.E.I., to change policies this week — the chain now welcomes fathers to use parking spots previously marked for new mothers.
“The signs at our Stratford Sobeys location have now been updated to read expectant mothers and customers with small children,” a Sobeys spokesperson said in an email Thursday. “We will continue to work on updating signs at other Sobeys store locations in Atlantic Canada.”
News coverage of Simard’s complaint prompted much social media debate, and one mother to write a letter to a P.E.I. newspaper, noting that carrying a child takes a physical toll on women — swollen legs, body aches, stitches after labour— that has no male equivalent.
“Women in full-term of pregnancy and postpartum are temporarily handicapped,” Jessica MacFadzen-Reid wrote in the Summerside JournalPioneer. “After both (of my) labours ... I was in pain and I was granted a spot to park my car to make the ordeal of feeding my family a bit easier.
“No father has ever had to experience this.”
MacFadzen-Reid, a stay-at-home mom in Summerside whose husband is currently on paternity leave, told The Canadian Press she sees Simard’s claim to mothers’ parking as an example of men feeling entitled to femaledesignated spaces.
The 38-year-old Simard has admitted it “seems silly” for a man to complain about sexism, but he also questioned the inclusivity of excluding, for example, two-father families.
On social media, some applauded Simard’s push for father-friendly parking, while others saw his stance against “sexist” signage as itself being sexist.
Simard tweeted Wednesday that 98 per cent of the feedback he has received has been positive, but the remaining two per cent has included “hate speech, sexist remarks” and suggestions that he “grow a pair.”
Ann Braithwaite, a professor who studies diversity and social justice at University of Prince Edward Island in Charlottetown, said the seemingly “mundane” details of people’s lives often become the battleground for broader questions, because they are easier to digest and hit closer to home.
However, she thinks the parkingspace issue has been blown out of proportion by what she called the “oppression Olympics,” in which groups vie to one up each other’s claims to hardship. “Our attempts to be more inclusive too often end up in people policing each other,” she said.