So I Googled IKEA instructions in hopes that some enterprising soul had decided to create and share the useful instructions that are missing from most IKEA products*. Instead I found a few jokes and complaints about the instructions (or lack thereof) and this news item:
OSLO, Norway (Reuters) – Swedish home furnishings giant IKEA is guilty of sex discrimination by showing only men putting together furniture in its instruction manuals, Norway’s prime minister says.
IKEA, which has more than 200 stores in 32 nations, fears it might offend Muslims by depicting women assembling everything from cupboards to beds. Its manuals show only men or cartoon figures whose sex is unclear.
“This isn’t good enough,” Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik was quoted Thursday as telling the daily Verdens Gang. “It’s important to promote attitudes for sexual equality, not least in Muslim nations.”
– women’s news clippings » Gender bias in IKEA instructions?
* Although no-one had done it, someone else did suggest publishing “IKEA: The Missing Manual.”
so what’s left? stick figures?