Female empowerment with traffic lights

 

Traffic lights? Yeah that is correct. We cross the road every day we are out on the street, waiting patiently for the green man. But have you ever thought that the green man should be a woman? Men are dominant and giving orders in politics and have been directing when we should cross the road. Yet, we fail to notice. It is ingrained into our subconscious that we see a green man to indicate for us to move. But is this another sign of the deep rooted gender inequality that is implicit in our everyday life? 

Mumbai has noticed this and recently has changed the traffic lights to look different. The financial capital of India, which is home to more than 12 million people, is changing its road signs in order to be more gender inclusive. The new traffic light design will show red and green female figures, identified in the shape of a dress instead of the generic male figure. This project is part of a broader initiative known as "Culture Spine", which is headed by Aaditya Thackeray, the cabinet minister for tourism and the environment in Maharashtra, the state where Mumbai is located.

He tweeted: "If you've passed by Dadar, you'd see something that will make you feel proud. The local administration is ensuring gender equality with a simple idea - the signals now have women too!" This was referring to a neighbourhood in central Mumbai as he posted images of the new traffic lights. I think it is also interesting to note how this initiative was introduced by a man. Male MPs of Westminster take note! It shows that for real change to happen it is the men who are in power that need to do something as there is a lot more of them in higher positions. We have to have more men identify as feminists. 

Sada Sarvankar, a local leader of Thackeray's political party Shiv Sena, described the move on Twitter as a "significant step towards #WomenEmpowerment." Elsewhere, residents and social media users also praised the new lights as a symbolic step towards changing public perceptions, challenging gender norms and demanding representation for women in public spheres. One Twitter user called the traffic lights, "one small yet decisive step forward to ending the subconscious exclusion of the female narrative from how our cities are designed." Another said it was a sign that women had "gained some more presence and acceptance as the new normal." This shows how it is an initiative that has been widely popular, hopefully prompting other countries to follow suit. 

In India, the situation for women when travelling on the street is much more dangerous. In 2012, a student was gang raped and murdered on a New Delhi bus. Dark streets, remote bus stops and blind corners can make it harder for women to safely travel alone at night, while public transportation can be common spaces for harassment or assault. This urged authorities in the Indian capital to introduce a number of reforms to address some of these safety concerns. 

Not only India has taken these steps of female empowerment in the form of traffic lights, other world cities have used them to highlight gender equality. In a number of German cities, street crossings have long been featured both male and female stick figures, while Austria's capital Vienna added same-sex couples to its traffic lights in 2015. Last February, the Swiss city of Geneva announced that it would replace male stick figures with female ones on half of its traffic signs, in addition to a host of other diverse figures, including a pregnant woman, two women holding hands and a woman with an afro. 

On the contrary, there is of course resistance. When Melbourne added female figures to a set of traffic lights in 2017, for instance, some residents argued that it was, in fact, regressive and heteronormative to assume the conventional figure in pants is male while a figure wearing a dress is female. Others questions whether the money could be better spent addressing gender inequality in greater ways. This has been the sentiment by some in Mumbai as one Youtube user tweeted: "Maharastra may rank second in terms of rapes citing 'refusal to marry' . Women may not be feeling very safe there, but hey, they have equality restoring lights. Amazing." 

A part of me agrees with this. But a part of me also believes that tackling gender inequality in the subconscious aspects of our life such as the signs on the roads can contribute to the overall narrative of improving gender equality on a larger level. It has to be a combination of both the implicit and explicit elements of gender inequality. There is no denying that changing the lights will do very little for gender equality in India. But subconsciously it could make the population view woman as beings also, deserving of equal status. 

India has long struggled with widespread gender inequality. Many families still prefer sons over daughters, which means the sex ration is very skewed. For every 100 girls born in India, there are 107 boys. About 239,000 girls under the age of 5 die each year due to neglect linked to gender discrimination, according to a 2018 study. Although the government pledged to create change after the 2012 bus rape, sexual violence and assault against women has persisted. 

The change in India is small but for its background on gender inequality, it is significant. If a generation of little girls grow up seeing women figures on traffic signals, it can send a small but powerful message that women belong in the public. The presence of this symbolism can undo the idea that the imagined person on the street is male. I am not saying that by countries putting women on traffic lights that it will eradicate domestic abuse, sexual violence, harassment and the obstacles to women gaining education. But it will make people aware of the unconscious bias.The man becomes the representation for everything around us. These traffic lights could play a valuable role in reinforcing women's rights to exist in public spaces. Traffic lights are sending a message that women belong there.