Many products are slapped with a 'pink tax' or 'feminine' colour scheme and marketed towards women - often at a higher cost.
These are usually beauty products, vitamins, or household cleaning products.
But one customer of online store Groupon says she was left shocked over an "unacceptable" ad for a mop she found while shopping for homewares online.
The UK woman told The Sun she was searching for a new spray mop on Google when the Groupon ad came up. While the initial search result didn't include the word 'women's' in the title, when she clicked the link, the product was described as a "Women's Spray Mop With Microfibre Pads: Purple", retailing for £8.99 (NZ$17.50).
In a now-deleted tweet to the official Groupon Twitter account, the woman sarcastically asked whether the online retailer was selling a unisex mop or one that men could use, so her husband could also clean the floors.
Other Twitter users reportedly replied to the tweet with outrage over the listing.
"I had to do a double take! Are they for real?" one person is said to have written, while another added the ad was "totally ludicrous!"
Others saw the funny side, with one man joking he hoped the male equivalent was blue with red flames down the side.
However others thought the woman's outrage was over the top.
"Why are people offended? It's just a mop," commented one person on The Sun's Facebook post, while another scathed "snowflakes".
Speaking to The Sun, a Groupon spokesperson blamed the ad on its automation software, which apparently automatically added the word "women's" after finding the product had been purchased by a large percentage of women.
"We agree with the reader's sentiment on this advert - Groupon does not believe that housework is in any way gender-specific," the spokesperson said.
"Sadly the issue was caused by automation software. We are reviewing this process and those responsible for not catching this and removing the ad are now officially on mopping duties."
