Melbourne introduces female traffic light figures

Committee for Melbourne tackles 'unconscious bias'

In Australia, pedestrian lights are the latest frontier to fight against unconscious sexism in the the country.

The Committee for Melbourne, a non-profit organisation in Victoria, officially began its 'Equal Crossings' campaign. The campaign aims to install an equal number of traffic lights which show a female figure, replacing the silhouette of a man which has become the global standard.

Martine Letts, the CEO of the committee, speaking to ABC said, "The idea is to install traffic lights with female representation, as well as male representation, to help reduce unconscious bias."



"Unconscious bias reinforces stereotypes and influences daily decisions and attitudes," she told News Limited.

The programme was supported by Victorian Governor Linda Dessau. "Some people have expressed a little skepticism wondering whether it's gesture politics rather than having any real substance," she said.

"But these symbols are a practical and meaningful way to demonstrate that in fact 50 per cent of our population is female and should therefore also be represented at traffic lights."

The decision has been met with both criticism and applause.

Some people commented that time and money could have been spent on more important issues:

Over 42,000 Australian women are homeless while we spend thousands to include female figures in the Melbourne traffic lights... #ridiculous

— Ellie Devenish (McKenzie) (@elliemck3nzie) March 7, 2017

https://twitter.com/MrsTempu5_Fugit/status/838876373326295041

https://twitter.com/channelperri/status/838909599973429249

https://twitter.com/Asher_Wolf/status/838877793106612224

Of course there was some sarcasm:

https://twitter.com/derek_mack/status/838926062016835584

https://twitter.com/TurnLeft2017/status/838911539109232640

Some common sense:

https://twitter.com/MrSimonTaylor/status/838970585359122433

https://twitter.com/anguslivingston/status/838862647286083585

 

Well at least someone is happy:

https://twitter.com/brookemorin11/status/838935411636465665

This story originally appeared on Mashable.