US paper uses male symbol for women's rights march

  • 06/01/2017
Washington Post Express cover
The front page of the Washington Post Express (Facebook)

A US newspaper has been left red-faced after mistakenly using a male symbol on its front page story about a march for women's rights.

The Washington Post Express quickly apologised for the "embarrassing" mistake, which one person on Twitter called a "record for the largest typo".

Twitter post
(Twitter)

"We made a mistake on our cover this morning and we're very embarrassed," the newspaper said on Twitter.

"We erroneously used a male symbol instead of a female symbol."

The stinging irony was that the article was about a 150,000-strong march for women's rights.

The paper followed its apology with a corrected image. "This is how the cover should have looked. We apologize for the mistake," it posted.

Washington Post Express Twitter post
The Washington Post Express' apology (Twitter)

Social media users responded with shock and humour.

"The Washington Post Express nailed it so hard this morning. Give it a second, you'll figure it out..." Tim Young said.

"Massive failure @WaPoExpress i don't know whether to laugh or cry. Maybe both," another wrote.

Despite the apology the publication is facing flak for its design treatment of the issue overall. One of the top comments on the Washington Post Express' Facebook apology post criticises the design for being not just pink but "dainty, feminine-hygiene-packaging pink".

"The copy uses the word 'modest'. You're smart enough to figure out what's wrong with that right?" Leela Corman wrote.

She also added that the image involved no visible women.

Newshub.