An Aberdeen shopper has struck a blow for equal rights and persuaded a city supermarket to change its magazine racks.
Accountant Iain Henderson saw red after struggling to find the latest issue of BBC Good Food at the Sainsbury’s store in Berryden Retail Park.
The 24-year-old finally located it under a bright pink banner proclaiming “Women’s Lifestyle”, next to more traditionally feminine magazines such as Vogue and Hello.
Annoyed, he took a closer look and realised the “Men’s Lifestyle” section contained a number of other gender-neutral magazines, including Amateur Photographer and Total Guitar.
Mr Henderson, who is originally from Wick, lodged a complaint with the store’s manager and now Sainsbury’s has taken action
He said: “It was a bit annoying. It was the first time I had ever bought it, so I didn’t know where it would be, I expected it to be in the household section of the shelving, but it wasn’t there.
“I glanced about and found a whole cluster of cooking magazines all within the women’s section. I was raging – not that I had to look in the women’s section, but the fact that it was categorised as ‘Ideal For Women’, which no magazine really is.”
A spokeswoman for Sainsbury’s said: “We’ll be replacing the signage in the magazine aisle in our Berryden road store.”
It is understood the supermarket has stopped using men and women’s signs in the majority of its 1,200-plus stores across the UK, and Berryden was one of the few which still had the gender-defined system.
Sandra MacDonald, the convener of the Aberdeen Women’s Alliance applauded the supermarket giant for its swift response.
She said: “I have no idea why myths about what men and women are interested in still persist in this day and age, but good on Sainsbury’s for taking this on and listening to the complaint.”