7-Year-Old Gets New Zealand To Change Sexist Road Signs

Sexist statements, signs and actions will hopefully disappear soon. What's giving hope is that young little girls are calling out to those who're running the world in the old sexist manner. Recently, 7-year-old Zoe Carew wrote a letter to The New Zealand Transport Agency pointing out the sexist road signs displayed all over. Soon after, the Agency decided to take Zoe's concerns seriously and make some important changes.

“Why does the sign say ‘Linemen’ when the people working on the lines may be men or women? I think this sign is wrong and unfair."

Zoe got enraged when she saw the “Linemen” signs. The sign indicates that people installing or fixing power lines are currently working in the area. This was while she travelling to visit her grandparents in the city of Eastbourne. Zoe wrote a letter to Fergus Gammie, chief executive of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA).

“Why does the sign say ‘Linemen’ when the people working on the lines may be men or women? I think this sign is wrong and unfair. Do you agree?”

So proud of my 7yo. She recently wrote to the NZTA CE asking that they replace the 'Lineman' sign with something more "correct and fair" bc "women can be line-workers too". The CE agreed and now NZTA is developing a new Line Crew sign. High 5s all round! 😍 pic.twitter.com/lam5tciZ2u

— Caitlin Carew (@greeniecaitlin) July 30, 2018

“I don’t really want to be a line-worker when I grow up because there are so many more exciting things I would like to do, but some girls might want to learn to linewomen. Can you please change the sign to say ‘Line-workers’ instead, or something else correct and fair like that,” she concluded.

Gammie replied back, through a letter that Zoe’s proud mother Caitlin shared on social media. The chief executive applauded the little girl for her suggestion and for taking action against what she believed was unfair.

We were happy to take Zoe’s suggestion on board, because great ideas can come from anyone, including seven-year-olds! Good on you, Zoe! https://t.co/CanSuHBNXN

— NZTA News (@nzta_news) July 30, 2018

The NZTA agreed with Zoe, however, informing that her suggestion of “line-workers” would require the size of the signs to be increased. The executive suggested that “line crew” would fit on the signs and that the NZTA would change its sign specification approvals to reflect this. “The new signs will replace the old ones when they need replacement due to wear and tear, this may take some time,” he concluded.

Well done, Zoe!

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