Let's also get rid of "gunman" and "madman."

.. that said "Slow down, my Mommy works here" and "Slow down, my Daddy works here." (Haven't seen them for a while, though.)

Yes, by all means!

And throw in a picture, for the illiterate.

There that wasn't so hard, was it?

Fine, from now on we'll refer to you as "lunatic".

James T. Kirk:

You have to be able to read to drive legally.

I think it's an OK change. I'll support it. But frankly, as a linguist I feel surprised at the fetish value people ascribe to words. I'm a bit surprised that one should think "it is impossible that men and women's professional lives will ever be really equal" should follow from "Men at work" signs. It's as if someone were saying that the metonymic use of the word "ass" meaning "person" (as in 'get your ass over here!') will lead to a future in which we'll have forgotten that people actually do have other body parts besides asses.

How exactly does it help anything? WHY are these changes so important?

People are going to read the signs now and think to themselves, "Gee, those signs all used to say MEN WORKING and I never bothered to question my own inherent sexism. Now, I realize that I must be constantly on-guard against my own prejudices."

Really?

When I'm driving down the highway at 55 mph and see "Workers ahead" the first thing that pops into my head is invariably: "Ohh, why, some of those workers could be WOMEN!"

"Small linguistic shifts" make a world of difference? Pathetic. There are actual problems in the world and that was not one of them.

It's stunning to note the kinds of trivia that white US feminists always seem to get distracted by.

Ooh, the sign on the women's lavatory is slightly rustier than the sign on the men's lavatory! DISCRIMINATION!!!!!!

What about those that are not actually working? Won't the sign "Workers Ahead" be equally as offensive? What about a person walking by? Isn't it possible that someone reading the sign may mistake them for a "worker", resulting in a hate crime?

I would just say make it say "People Ahead", but then non-human animals and plants would get offended. Then you could say "Living Beings Ahead" but then the rocks would get offended!

How about "Something or Nothing Ahead"?

I think the real question is, how will this affect 80s pop sensation, Men at Work?

Not in my state. In fact when you go down to DMV the thing you hear most often, shouted as if that makes it more understandable is

"You have-to-bring-an-or-i-gi-nal doc-u-ment from your con-sul-ate or em-bas-see".

...usually brings to mind the image of five guys standing around watching one guy shovel.

Does "Workers ahead" mean we should now imagine five guys standing around watching one woman shovel? Or the reverse? :)

Be it "Men working" or "Workers ahead," I'm not sure either conveys the point that, when entering a work or construction zone, you are, by law, supposed to slow down.

I think either "Work Zone Ahead" or "Construction Ahead" are better choices.

You may be a linguist, but you would do poorly on the analogy portion of a standardized test. "Get your ass over here" is a metonymy, in which the part (ass) signifies the whole (person). The problem with your comparison is that while we all have asses, not all of us have a penis. Therefore, "men working" is inherently exclusive of half the human population that could potentially be part of that workforce.

I don't personally have a big problem with these leftover expressions from the days when women really were not included in the groups described. However, I do think that changes like these create subtle, positive shifts in the public perception of the genderization of work. (This cuts both ways, btw -- think of a profession such as nursing. No signs are involved, but it's still strongly associated as a job held by women.)

It's not so much that we think about sexism or women working when we see a "Workers Ahead Sign," it's that we are more likely to connect an image of men holding the given job when we see the "Men Working" message. Without that inaccurate specifier in the statement, those out-of-date associations can slowly begin to erode.

will be the FIRST time despite living in Atlanta which is pretty much in a constant state of teardowns/rebuilding...but whatever! I hope the female construction worker I've never met will finally be able to sleep. :-p

When will we see a sign that reads: "FEMALE SELECTIVE SERVICE REGISTRANTS, HERE"? Such a small, but significant, change.

Now young women will know without a doubt that they should also aspire to road construction jobs when they enter the workforce.

Frankly, I think "Men at work" was more an insult to men than women.

Yes, brava indeed for ensuring that women can now make real strides towards equality in obtaining positions on road paving crews in Atlanta. Now that this linguistic travesty has been overcome, we can move to recognize the achievements of the numerous female construction workers, asphalt layers, and pipe fitters that we all come into contact with every day. For most people with a legitimate concern for gender equality, these types of stories recall other equally absurd and irrelevant attempts to correct gender discrimination only at the most extreme linguistic margins while leaving underlying behaviors completely untouched. I reference "womyn", "herstory", etc. I am glad that workers of all genders will now be recognized in Atlanta, but let's not overstate the significance here.

Cost for the change is not a total of $166, it's either $22 to change EACH sign or $144 for a new sign. Changing 50 signs (the total signs they have) will therefore cost anywhere from $1000 to $7500. I'm all for having signs be gender neutral, but can't we wait until they wear out?

Meanwhile, in other Atlanta news, the mayor is laying off another 175 city workers (for a total of over 600) to cover a $60 million dollar budget deficit that came out of nowhere when they figured out that their accounting was non-existent.

Sewer rates are up 70% in the last several years to pay for a multi-billion dollar long-overdue rebuilding of the sewer system.

And this mayor is a huge improvement over the last one, who is in jail now for taking bribes (he would go on gambling trips with city contractors and always come back with cash that he "won".

I think there are bigger fish to fry in Atlanta....