Before writing about traffic signs and gender inequality, I think that I need to
write a minimal explanation of gender and sex. But I don´t want to look like a teacher.
Gender is
the result of socio-cultural rules that are (re)created and defined from the
perception of what is feminine and masculine. In other words, what fits for
women and men differently.
Gender is
different from sex.
Sexr is
defined by chromosomes XX (female) and XY (male).
Gender
inequality is the social relations between men and women, can be seen for
example in the wage gap between men and women, the unequal division of
household chores, in sports, etc..
Traffic signs, the issue at hand:
Since 2010,
I have collected pictures of traffic signs in Germany, Italy and Switzerland.
Because I think that a
simple detour or pedestrian crosswalk sign means much more than being aware of the traffic, but also reflects the context of the society in
which we live.
While I was taking these pictures, I was reflecting about the images and how they are permeated with male chauvinism, and reinforce the stereotype of women as exclusively as mother, housewife,
or/and caretaker of children.
This
reflection is based on a course about gender, nutrition and the right to food that I took at Hohenheim University in 2010. I did not go in depth about this issue specifically at that time, I just sometimes shared with few friends, and now I decided to share here.
In some
images, the figure of a man with a boy appears, are apparently in the street,
playing ball, of course because traditionally only boys play ball. Girls are not supposed to!
Girls play with dolls, mini pans and inside of the house. However these statements are only social-culture gender roles.
I could think that this traffic sign represents the moment when the man is taking care of the
child. But then, I could also conclude that he just takes care of the kid when they are playing!
Moreover, why
they don´t include a traffic sign with a girl playing football too?
Girls also play
football!
See Marta, my Brazilian favorite soccer player.
The traffic
sign that I see to the right depicts a woman with a child. The traffic sign
indicates who the preference to go first. Usually this traffic sign is near a school. For me, this image indicates who is responsible for taking the child to school, to health care, and so on.
Last year
when I was in Geneva, I saw the traffic sign below, and I really liked it, because, it shows that the father also has responsibility for the child, and
that permeates the comings and goings to the school, and other care giver.
That's the
way I see these pictures.
With the
exception of the last one (the man with a child), the others were made in
different cities in Germany (Heidelberg, Roschbach, Frankfurt and Essligen).
I’ve asked
different people what they think about these traffic signs, but they usually find them normal
and they don´t see the same way I see them.
In my point
of view, the traffic signs reinforce gender inequalities.
I would
like to know your opinion about this post?
If you can
and want to comment anything about it, it would be really cool.
First published in Portuguese in 09/09/2012. And now in English with small changes.
Foi isso que eu ouvi da enfermeira.
O vestido é perfeito porque não precisa puxar muito a roupa para enfiar a agulha no cateter intravenoso, por onde recebo a quimo.
O vestido é perfeito porque não precisa puxar muito a roupa para enfiar a agulha no cateter intravenoso, por onde recebo a quimo.
