The RSPB has promised to review its posters after a birdwatcher claimed its depiction of birds was sexist.
Mya-Rose Craig, who goes under the name @BirdgirlUK on Twitter, brought the issue to the wildlife conservation charity’s attention on Friday after sharing an image from a bird-watching hide of a poster used to identify birds that visitors might spot.
Craig pointed out that the poster showed the male of some of the featured species with the female variety depicted in a smaller image.
If you aren’t into nature, you won’t know that when you go into #birdwatching hides there are often posters up yo help you with bird ID. But why should female birds always be shown as a smaller picture insert?? #Sexisminbirding? We need a revolution @Natures_Voice @WWTworldwide pic.twitter.com/3bPTNxdNlG
— Dr Mya-Rose Birdgirl Craig (@BirdgirlUK) May 14, 2021
The charity responded to the tweet by acknowledging it “must do better”.
In a follow-up tweet, Craig said the response to her attempt at using humour to highlight ingrained sexism in conversation made her realise that it was a much bigger issue than first thought.
She said: “When I posted this, it was to highlight the ingrained #sexism in #conservation by using humour. I should have expected the large number of responses from #sexistbirders, so now I see it as an important issue at the core of #birding that must be changed.”
An RSPB spokesperson said: “It is a fair point and we must do better. We’re pleased Mya brought this to our attention and will be reviewing these posters with our team internally.”