英国新版护照被称性别歧视
A new UK passport design was launched Tuesday with tougher security measures - but immediately sparked a sexism row.
英国新版护照的设计图周二发布，安全措施更严格，却立刻引发了一场性别歧视“口水战”。
Officials say it will be the 'most secure passport ever issued in the UK' and contains innovative features to make it more difficult for fraudsters to forge copies.
But the Passport Office was hit by accusations of sexism as the passport features SEVEN men and only TWO women.
The seven men featured are:
- John Constable, the painter of the Hay Wain
- John Harrison, the inventor of the marine timekeeper
- Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, the architect
- Charles Babbage, the inventor of the computer
- William Shakespeare, the playwright, who appears in a new high-security watermark
- Antony Gormley and Anish Kapoor, the sculptors
The two women featured are:
- Elisabeth Scott, the architect
- Ada Lovelace, the early computer programmer
Mark Thomson, director general of the Passport Office, defended the design.
He said: "It wasn't something where we said let's set out to only have two women.
"In trying to celebrate the UK's creativity we tried to get a range of locations and things around the country to celebrate our triumphs over the years, so there we are."
Asked about the omission of female icons such as Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters, he said: "Whenever we do these things there is always someone who wants their favourite rock band or icon in the book.
"We've got 16 pages, a very finite space. We like to feel we've got a good representative view celebrating some real icons of the UK- Shakespeare, Constable and of course Elisabeth Scott herself."