Every now and then an idea comes along that is so utterly stupid, crass or insensitive that it is impossible to believe it was waved through what must have been several stages of sign-offs and approvals. Into this category fall examples like the ‘Bic for her’, a pen designed especially for the fragile female hand; the UK government decision to force women to pay for their own rape crisis services using proceeds from the tampon tax; and the Cardiff buses advertised using a picture of a naked woman and the slogan ‘Ride me all day for £3’. The FA gets an honourable mention for its tweet welcoming home the bronze medal-winning women’s World Cup team with a message that began: “Our #Lionesses go back to being mothers, partners and daughters today . . .” In fact, I could go on and on.
What’s most shocking about these facepalm-worthy fails is that they aren’t accidental. People have sat down together around a meeting table somewhere and said ‘Hey, this seems like a great plan!’ And at no point from the initial idea to its execution has any policymaker, company boss or stakeholder said ‘Hang on a second, there might just be something a tad . . . sexist about that.’ In fact, in most cases, they clearly thought they were on to an absolutely brilliant idea.
That is perhaps the most eye-opening aspect of these examples. They don’t only reveal the extent of ingrained sexism in our society, but the widespread lack of awareness of the problem. Even when people are actively thinking about initiatives to engage women and girls in areas where they are traditionally under-represented, they don’t see a problem with using sexism and stereotypes to try to address the gap. The irony is astounding.