Morrisons apologises for displaying New Scientist magazine in men's interest news stand
A customer complained that the positioning gave a negative message to girls
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A supermarket has apologised after copies of a science magazine were displayed in the men’s interest section of its news stand.
A biology graduate complained to Morrisons after the weekly New Scientist magazine was moved to the “Men’s & motor” area of the wrack at the Woohouse Land store in Leeds.
Writing in a Facebook post seen by The Tab student newspaper, former Leeds student Sophie Anam said that the display gave a negative message to girls.
She told the newspaper: “Science is so incredibly fascinating and exciting – how anybody can argue that any of these things are ‘a mens general interest’ is beyond me!”
Ms Anam went on to say that it was “upsetting” to find “ridiculous outdated gender stereotypes” being played out “in the 21st century”.
The supermarket sparked further controversy when it responded to Ms Anam: “this magazine has been placed under this section is that it is a generally a men’s general interest magazine.”
When confronted with how its magazine was being displayed in Morrisons, New Scientist tweeted: “oh dear, when did @Morrisons say that? New Scientist is for everyone.”
Morrisons has since apologised and called the move a “genuine mistake.”
A spokespeeditorialrson told The Independent: “The signage in this magazine section in this store was incorrectly displayed.
“There were also music, history and political magazines in the same section and the signage ‘Men and Motors’ was a genuine mistake. We know that New Scientist is read by men and women and we apologise for any suggestion otherwise.”
The incident occurred in a climate of concern that women are underrepresented and put off from careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (Stem) because of societal pressures.
Women currently make up around 12.8 per cent of the Stem workforce, according to the campaign group Women in Science and Engineering (Wise).
The figure was compounded by a recent study which ound that women are less likely to become scientists and engineers because they are taught to believe that such professions require innate intellectual brilliance rather than hard work.
Amid concerns about the gender gap in the sector, Nobel laureate Tim Hunt stepped down from UCL after he outlined the apparent problem with "girls" at the World Conference of Science Journalists in Seoul, North Korea.
"Three things happen when they are in the lab … You fall in love with them, they fall in love with you and when you criticise them, they cry," he told the audience.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments