Management at a nuclear power plant in Temelín, Czech Republic has been criticized for holding a bikini competition for a chance to win an internship.
CEZ Temelín, the owners of the power plant, uploaded photos of 10 women dressed in swimwear on Facebook and asked the public to vote on their favourite female candidate.
In a June 19 Facebook post, the operators of the power plant said the candidate with the most likes will win the two-week internship.
Since then, the competition has stirred uproar online with people calling it “sexist” and “stupid.”
“No, I’m not triggered, I’m just a decent enough human being to spot that hiring women for an internship based on how they look in a bikini is such blatant and inexcusable sexism,” commentator Stephen Frost posted on Facebook.
“Oh man, that’s a new level of pathetic,” Emilia Klos posted on Facebook.
Another Facebook user pointed out that it was strange that the competition was only open to females and how it was just a disturbing opportunity to take pictures of women in bathing suits.
Others said it was “disgusting” that the company was objectifying women.
CEZ Temelín claims one of their professional photographers took the photos and said the women enjoyed the experience. But when the photos were added to Facebook, they received a lot of backlash.
“This is a huge ignorance and a miserable move from the management,” Bára Bečvářová posted on Facebook.
CEZ Temelín has since released an apology.
“We didn’t want to offend anyone. The purpose of the competition was to promote technical education. But if the original vision raised doubts or concerns, we are very sorry.”
In the statement, CEZ Temelín said they ended the voting and decided to give an internship to all of the 10 candidates.