'Cute' photo of children in dress-up sparks online backlash

A seemingly innocent photo of two children dressed as medical staff has been slammed as 'sexist' after it was posted online.

The image features a little boy and a little girl dressed in hospital scrubs, but it’s the wording written onto the outfits – and the colours – that has sparked a backlash.

On the back of the boy's green scrubs it reads 'Doctor in Training' while the girl's pink outfit has 'Nurse in Training'.

The photo was posted to an account that features medical images and news, but is not attached to any specific facility or hospital.

Its caption read: "This is cute, isn't it?"

Twitter users immediately commented on the image, voicing their anger.

"No it’s not. Why isn't she a Dr as well? Or why is the boy not a nurse?" one person wrote, in response to the caption.

Another wrote: "Women are expected to take the nurturing jobs such as nurse, caregiver while men are to take the jobs such as Doctors etc."

"The picture is sexist. Period," wrote another.

"Cute," agreed one before adding, "but let’s not forget the fact that we live in a society where we have gendered work."

Twitter user Angel Fernando decided to create her own take on the photo, swapping out the words "doctor" and "nurse" for the more generic "health professional".

One witty user commented: "How did you tweet this from the year 1950?” while another said: "The children are cute. The sexism on their backs is NOT."

The post also got many comments from men pointing out that they, too, can be nurses.