It’s 2016, but it seems some people still believe all men like watching football while every woman is preoccupied with shoes.
Hotel group Pentahotels has come under fire for promoting these “outdated gender stereotypes” on the bathroom signs inside one of its branches.
The door of the men’s toilet shows a figure dreaming of football, while the women’s is indicated by a figure thinking about shopping.
A photo of the two doors was tweeted by head of UK Theatre Cassie Chadderton, along with the caption: “Just wondering if you know that we’re in the 21st century now?”
In response to Chadderton’s tweet, the hotel group managed to make things even worse for themselves by suggesting that men do go shopping too - but only when they want to buy a new football kit.
To this, Chadderton accused the company of “reinforcing outdated gender stereotypes”, which it (finally) seemed to take seriously.
The organisation tweeted again to say: “We’re a modern and open-minded family who believes in equality. We hope we did not upset you.”
But their message came a little too late for many on Twitter, who called the bathroom signs “sexist”.
Some suggested that if Pentahotels was really an “open-minded” company, it would change the signs immediately.
Speaking to The Huffington Post UK, a Pentahotels spokesperson said: "Pentahotels is a modern and open-minded family who believes in equality and equal rights.
"We, the penta-family, don’t for once second believe that women can be reduced to just being interested in shopping or that men can be reduced to just being interested in football.
"The signs were meant to be humorous, simple and light-hearted – sexism was certainly NOT the motivator for our choice."
