‘Sexist’ hat for sale at National Trust shop
THE National Trust has been accused of sexism after one of its stately homes was found selling pink hats for girls with the slogan ‘future footballers wife’.
The sun hats – with missing apostrophe – were being sold in the gift shop at Tatton Park in Cheshire, but were removed from shelves yesterday after criticism from customers.
Laura Goss, creative director at a digital agency, photographed the ‘stupid’ hat and posted it on Twitter with the message: ‘Your young female visitors deserve better merchandise (and better grammar).’
Others criticised the ‘everyday sexism’ of the item and ‘an appalling lack of judgment’ in selling it. One said the hat ‘ put the tat into Tatton’ whilst another wrote: ‘ Young girls aspiring to marry into money, @nationaltrust keeping the true spirit of the Stately Home/ Landed Gentry alive.’
The National Trust said that although the estate was bequeathed to the charity in 1958 it is financed and maintained by Cheshire East Council which does not consult the Trust about what is sold in the shop.
Graham Jones, Tatton Park’s visitor and commercial operations manager, said the hat was removed from the shelves as soon as they were made aware of the complaint. He said: ‘We get a job lot of hats from our supplier, including children’s hats, but I don’t know how these ended up on our shelves. Someone’s put them out without thinking.’
He added: ‘If they have offended anyone and are considered inappropriate, then as far as we are concerned, it was a mistake and we take that very seriously.’
The National Trust has endured a difficult time recently, particularly over publicly ‘outing’ Robert Wyndham Ketton-Cremer, former owner of Felbrigg Hall in Norfolk, as gay. The trust was also criticised for trying to get volunteers to wear rainbow-coloured lanyards in support of an LGBTQ campaign at Felbrigg Hall.