Gendering Traffic & Exit Signs

The city of Vienna, Austria, launched an awarness campaign entitled "Wien sieht's anders" (Vienna sees it differently)as part of the City's "Gender Mainstreaming" project.

Its aim is to "give both genders the same exposure and ensure an equal distribution of chances, opportunities and duties" by changing the gender of figures pictured on familiar signs.

Female exit signs and pictograms in bathrooms featuring a man, rather than a woman, changing a baby, will be introduced at City Hall to start with, the statement said. Seats reserved for the elderly and pregnant women on Vienna's buses and trams will soon also picture a man carrying a child on his lap.

However, a roadworks sign picturing a woman in a skirt digging into a pile of dirt and used on a campaign poster will not see the light of day, because of traffic regulations.

Via Drudge