‘Sexist’ photo criticised for depicting girl as nurse and boy as doctor
‘The children are cute. The sexism on their backs is NOT’
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Your support makes all the difference.A photograph circulating on Twitter has been lambasted as "sexist" for seemingly depicting a young girl as a nurse in pink scrubs, and a young boy as a doctor in green scrubs.
The picture in question, which shows the children walking away from the camera and holding hands, was shared on Twitter earlier this week by an account called @TheMedicalShots.
"This is cute, isn't it?" reads the tweet's caption, which also includes a heart-eyed emoji.
The tweet has sparked a huge response on the social media platform, garnering more than 20,000 likes, more than 4,700 retweets and thousands of comments.
"No it's not. Why isn't she a Dr as well? Or why is the boy not a nurse?" one person tweeted in response to the claim the picture is "cute".
"How did you tweet this from the year 1950?" another added.
Some Twitter users took it upon themselves to make edits to the photograph, with one altering the picture so both children have the phrase "health professional in training" written on the back of their scrubs.
Another took their edit a step further, also removing any colour from the picture.
"I de-pinked it too, for good measure. #marriedtoaladydoctor #workwithladydoctors #everysingleday," the person tweeted.
While many have concurred on the view that the photograph is sexist, some have claimed assuming the "nurse" in pink is a girl and the "doctor" in green is a boy is, in itself, a stereotypical supposition.
"Why do people assume just because someone with short hair and wears blue is a boy? The gender stereotype is pure excusable sexist [sic]," one person tweeted.
"All the replies calling this sexist and gender stereotyping are making their assumption based on what - the hair styles? Really!?" another remarked.
However, it seems the overwhelming consensus among Twitter users was that the picture does perpetuate sexist stereotypes.
"Sorry, I live in a world where women can be doctors too," one person tweeted, alongside a GIF of actor Gillian Anderson in The X-Files rolling her eyes.
A recent study conducted by gender equality and women's rights charity the Fawcett Society claimed that being exposed to gender stereotypes in childhood can have a detrimental impact on individuals later in life.
According to the research, seven in 10 women aged between 18 and 34 who were affected by stereotypes said their career choices were restricted.
It was also found that by six years old, many children associate intelligence as a predominantly male trait.
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