BEIJING, May 25 — Beijing Capital International Airport has opened a security line for women only.
After conducting a trial run earlier this year, the airport hub has officially opened the “Female Only” security line, identified by bright pink signs in Chinese and English, reports The New York Times.
The move is meant to make female travellers more comfortable and eliminate contact with male security staff who may have to frisk or pat them down, reports People’s Daily, the state-run media.
All security personnel are also women.
The newly-opened service is expected to help speed up security checks by 10 per cent compared to regular lines.
The logic? Fewer women to slow down the line with bags filled with cosmetics and liquids that need to be inspected.
The female-only security lines are being put in place at T1, T2 and T3.
It’s the latest example of sex-segregated travel to emerge.
Last month, the city of Zhengzhou introduced a women-only bus during rush hour to spare women from being harassed or groped by male passengers.
An American entrepreneur is working on a ride-sharing scheme SafeHer, described as “Uber for Women” that would hire only female drivers for female passengers out of Massachusetts.
Citing security reasons, a private train operator in Germany launched a women-only car for its Leipzig and Chemnitz route in March.
And Australia is also considering opening an all-female ‘pink’ carriage with distress buttons and security checks to ward off rising crime rates against women. — AFP-Relaxnews
