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Gender [equality / equally] has reached the small human characters on traffic signals in Australia. Signals at ten pedestrian [crosses / crossings] in the city of Melbourne now [picturing / depict] walking red and green people in dresses. The initiative is part of a [trial / trail] 12-month gender equality campaign unveiled by the city. The Minister for Women, Fiona Richardson, explained that the [ration / rationale] behind the trial was to put more images of women in [public / publicly] places. She said: "There are many small, but [symbols / symbolically] significant ways that women are [excluded / exclusively] from public space. This is a wonderful way [for / to] make public space more inclusive for women." She hopes the city's signals will have equal numbers of male and female figures [in / on] the future.

The new signals have [drawing / drawn] a mixed response from citizens. Many critics say the new scheme is unnecessary and a [wastage / waste] of taxpayers' money. A leading [critic / critique] is Melbourne's mayor Robert Doyle, who told reporters: "I'm [all / whole] for doing anything we can for gender equity, but [reality / really] ?" He added: "Unfortunately, I think this sort of costly [exercise / exercising] is more likely to bring derision." Others said the new images were a sign of political [wrongness / correctness] gone crazy. Social media [users / usage] asked why the image of the woman has to wear a dress, when many women wear trousers. Others said the money could have been better used for [worth / worthier] projects that helped people in [need / needy] .