Oxford University has been forced to apologise after a picture emerged on social media of a female cleaner being made to scrub “Happy International Women’s Day” off the steps of one of its buildings.

The photo was taken by Associate Professor of Political Theory, Dr Sophie Smith, who also suggested four male security guards in the photo had made the cleaner remove the graffiti as they stood by and watched.

Oxford University apologised in a reply to the tweet, saying the situation “should never have happened”.

Dr Smith then suggested some further actions that could be taken to mitigate the incident.

Elsewhere, thousands of women are set to strike on Thursday for International Women’s Day after a tumultuous year for gender politics.

Around 7,000 people have pledged to go on strike, with 2,000 protestors due to meet in central London at 1pm. The UK will be one of 56 countries to take part in the walkout. 

The organisers say the day of action will be a clear show of solidarity with women from all walks of life, calling it “feminism for those millions of women at the bottom”.