Only a matter of weeks after Melbourne made headlines for introducing female traffic light signals, Australian poet and artist Richard Tipping is showing his Woman Crossing sign at Australian Galleries in Sydney as part of his Instant History exhibition.

Tipping created his Woman Crossing sign – which features a pair of legs in high heels – out of concern that pedestrian crossing signs in Australia show only a man. Tipping asked his partner, poet Chris Mansell to be the model for female legs, photographing her in her favourite shoes (both high heel and mid heel) then tracing the outline to use in the manufacture of the reflective sign.

^{Richard Tipping’s Woman Crossing}

“If people say it’s sexist because of the heels and ageist because of the young legs, tell them it’s my legs and my favourite work shoes, and that I’m over sixty!” Mansell said.

Tippet has proposed that 50 percent of pedestrian signs throughout the country be replaced with his Woman Crossing sign, sending proposals last year to all of the state Ministers for Women. “It’s up for discussion whether the comfortable high heels or the mid heels (as favoured...