Much chatter, and even full-blown debates have erupted in Girlawhirl's circle of friends over a recent news item from Atlanta, Georgia. Cynthia Good, the founder of Pink magazine, was almost arrested recently for allegedly spray painting the letters WO in front of the MEN on signs that said MEN WORKING. She fired off letters to the Governor and the Mayor, and a decision was made to change the signs. Good feels that it's just an example of the subtle type of discrimination that women face every day, and she's taken the crusade nationwide…
As it turns out, from 1978 to 2003 federal codes actually prohibited road signs from being gender-specific. WORKERS AHEAD was used instead of MEN WORKING. But when the codes were revised in 2003, it no longer required non-gender-specific signs. But they didn't revert back either; the signs specified in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices still showed signs like FLAGGER AHEAD and WORKERS AHEAD rather than the male-centric versions.
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But this is the part that Girlawhirl can't get over: a few years ago women employees of the Atlanta Public Works department complained about the signs and nothing was done about it!
Editors note: the Atlanta Public Works department is part of the city of Atlanta, not the state of Georgia. The decision made to change signs used by the Atlanta Public Works affects only the signs under their jurisdiction, not signs under the jurisdiction of the Georgia Department of Transportation.