Female Traffic Lights Grace the Streets of Valencia

We are accustomed to seeing the female silhouette on the door of the toilet designated for ladies. This is only natural as it is necessary for people to distinguish between the two. But are there any other public places where we are greeted with the female form instead of the male one?

Other than store changing rooms, that’s even if they bother to indicate the difference, I can’t actually think of any.

However, for those living in or visiting the city of Valencia, every time they cross the road in around 20 main streets within the city centre, they can now do so guided by the warning sign of a green and red woman, complete with skirt.

Tying in with International Women’s Day, which was celebrated yesterday on 8 March, the city unveiled its new set of traffic lights.

The town hall has said that the aim of including the female figure in a number of traffic lights across the centre is to show that when it comes to designing public spaces within the city, “women do count as well”!

On a more serious note, in this manner, Valencia’s town hall, which has been governed by the Compromís party since last June, also wants to demonstrate to the rest of the country that it defends the policies of equal rights between men and women.

According to the councillor for Equality, Isabel Lozano, this initiative has not cost the town hall any money to implement.

While other cities such as Lugo, La Coruña, Sagunto and Fuenlabrada have already incorporated the female figure into their sets of traffic lights, Valencia is the first ‘large city’ to do so.

Although on the surface to many this will look like a novelty action and somewhat of a waste of time, if the council’s actual ideas and words do hold any substance, there could be an important and much-needed step forward to bridging the gap of inequality between the rights of men and women.

Source: www.huffingtonpost.es