Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Gender equality in traffic

I read something today that I just had to share on this blog!

In Sweden the Government just decided to allow a new kind of traffic light at crosswalks. As in America, the crosswalk traffic lights in Europe show a man walking when you are allowed to cross the street. But now the government has allowed traffic lights that show a woman walking instead of a man! To ensure gender equality in traffic! Apparently some cities had already started to use traffic lights with a woman and the Government’s decision has now made that legal. The new traffic lights should be ready to be put up around New Year.

I think it’s pretty cool but I couldn’t help but smile when I read it. It’s just so Sweden…

1 comment:

Lisa R. Pruitt said...

I'm so glad you did share this. I wondered when this would happen, somewhere. I was recently explaining the "little flashing white man" (as opposed to the red man standing still) to my 3-year-old when we were crossing the street. That caused me to wonder: Why is that icon, like so many others that should really represent all humanity, a male one? Of course, if you start thinking about how to make the icon female, that creates another problem: will she necessarily be wearing a dress/skirt, like the one on the doors of public restrooms?