As OurWatch Abassador Tasma Walton said: "For the most part, in both classic and contemporary tales, women and girls either have a peripheral role or are portrayed as stereotypically feminine. The princesses, the stepmothers, the cheerleaders, the maids; waiting for princes, sitting on the sidelines or cleaning up the mess.

"The brave, heroic ones, getting their hands dirty and leading from the front, are almost always male. And the quirky ones, or silly ones, or clever ones, or naughty ones are also mostly male."

In early 2017, Our Watch conducted a national survey to ask 858 parents of children aged under three, what they thought about gender equality and violence against women, how they divided key household tasks and childrearing responsibilities within their family, and whether they believe that gender has an impact on their children.

The report Challenging gender stereotypes in the early years: the power of parents, showed that parents of young girls were more comfortable with the idea of them engaging in masculine-typed play, such as playing with trucks, whereas parents of young boys had lower levels of comfort in regard to their sons’ participation in feminine-typed play, such as playing with dolls.

Furthermore, more mothers were comfortable with the idea of their child acting in opposition to gender stereotypes than fathers, for example, more mothers than fathers were comfortable with the idea of their young sons crying when feeling sad.