Overview
- An internal staff complaint filed in early July argued that 'not all people who have periods are women' and called for the 'feminine care' label to be changed; the correspondence was leaked to campaigner James Esses and published on Friday and Saturday.
- Waitrose confirmed it will remove or rename the 'feminine' or 'feminine care' label and said the change is driven by product-range accuracy rather than changes to the products themselves.
- A Waitrose manager agreed in the leaked exchange that the label did not accurately describe the items and said colleagues would be asked to update the internal naming and in-store signage as soon as possible.
- Gender-critical campaigners and some political figures publicly condemned the decision as erasing womanhood, while other voices framed the update as a routine move toward clearer, more inclusive shelving labels.
- The dispute has become part of a wider UK debate over gendered language and retail practice; the immediate practical effect is limited to signage and categorisation, though it could increase public and political pressure on other retailers.