International Women’s Day: London gives green light to traffic-light women
Londoners out and about today may notice something different about the capital’s traffic light men — they’ve been transformed into women.
New ‘green woman’ pedestrian signals have been installed at more than 20 locations across the city, including Exhibition Road in South Kensington and high streets such as Clapham and Tottenham.
The redesign has been carried out to mark International Women’s Day and celebrate the achievements of women in the capital.
Transport for London (TfL) said the revamp was intended to challenge norms by depicting a diverse range of women and challenging the conventional image of a woman in a dress to depict gender.
Londoners can see the specially-designed pedestrian signals on high streets in Dalston, Tooting, Clapham, Brixton, Tottenham and Lewisham, as well as by King’s Cross St. Pancras Tube station.
They have also been installed in Camden Town, Hyde Park, the Southbank and along Exhibition Road in South Kensington.
“We are excited to have created a set of new diverse green woman pedestrian crossings to mark International Women’s Day,” said Felicity Luckett, TfL’s asset operations performance manager.
“It is important we commemorate the hard work, contributions and success of women across London every day and even more so on International Women’s Day. We hope that by increasing the visibility of women with these signals in public and shared spaces, Londoners will be reminded of the huge contributions of women.”
It is not the first time a city has overhauled its traffic light signals. Mumbai and Melbourne are among the locations to install new women figures in a bid to improve female representation.