The world's first female crash dummy has been presented by the Swedish National Road and Transport Institute (VTI) in the city of Linkoping.
The female crash dummy is 162 centimeters tall and weighs 62 kilograms, which corresponds to the measurements of an average woman.
According to VTI, which has been working on this project for a surprising 14 years, most recently with assistance from the EU, women have considerably less protection in road accidents compared to men. Above all, there is a greater risk of them suffering whiplash injuries, because women's necks are protected only half as well as men's. Despite this, all crash dummies to date have been based on the male anatomy.
"We must be able to assess the protection of the entire population," Astrid Linder, a professor of road safety and one of the main people behind the project, told Swedish media.
However, she refused to say when it may become a requirement to test new cars with female crash dummies.
"It can take a short time or an infinite amount of time. It depends on what we as a society decide on, it doesn't happen by itself," Linder said.
Worldwide, Sweden is known as a bastion of feminism, making gender equality of its top priorities.
Within Swedish society, feminism is significant social and political force to be reckoned with. Political parties across the entire spectrum have been at pains to tout gender-based policies in their public political manifestos. In 2014, Sweden became the first country in the world to launch what it dubbed "feminist foreign policy." Even though the current government abandoned this policy as counterproductive in one of its very first steps, incumbent Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson went out of his way to assure the Swedish public that he is and remains a committed feminist.
Sometimes, though, feminism takes amusing and even comical forms. Among others, Swedish politicians and mass media have no qualms about seriously discussing "feminist urban planning" and "feminist snow removal," which allegedly put a greater emphasis on women's needs. Several Swedish cities, including Gothenburg, pledged to name more streets after women to rectify the current imbalance. Other token gestures are not uncommon. In a bid to become more gender-equal, Stockholm City introduced pictograms of women's bicycles to indicate cycle lanes.
The paradoxical desire for equality at all cost was ridiculed by comedian and writer Tage Danielsson already in his 60s classic "Fairy tales for children over the age 18." In "The Story of Gudrun the Fair," Gudrun, the main female protagonist, sees her marriage come crashing down as she demands her husband to bear their second child, because asking her a second time would be "unfair" and that now is "his turn."