I'd allow my son to wear a dress – it's sexist to deny him this freedom

We allow girls to explore masculine toys, in the hope that they will progress into male dominated career fields, so why can't it be the same for boys?

Allison believes that her son should be free to play with any toys, regardless of their gendered connotations

Disney-obsessed Zackary Buckley must have been brimming with the kind of simplistic joy only a child can really feel as he headed off to nursery in his favourite fancy dress outfit.

His favourite outfit just happened to be his Snow White dress and that choice, his choice, saw his mother shamed in the street by a stranger.

A middle-aged woman told Haylee Bazen that she “should be embarrassed” for allowing her son to wear a dress and asked if she was “punishing him” by the choice of outfit.

As a mum of a four-year-old boy I’m disheartened, disgusted but, sadly, not surprised.

In a world where little girls are, rightly, positively encouraged to ditch their dollies for Lego and switch their Cinderella gowns for Spiderman suits, I’ve found that equality really isn’t a two-way street.

Equality should be about choice, but God forbid our little boys pick up those abandoned dolls and start to play!

In fact then I bought my boy a doll, at his request, two years ago, the reaction from people I’d formerly considered to be “reasonable” was a real eye-opener. It was as if I’d forced him into a tutu and played Judy Garland CDs on repeat.

While girls taking up traditionally “male” playthings and past times is overwhelmingly applauded, little boys opting for anything regarded as “female” is still viewed with suspicion.

Childhood should be a time of exploration and discovery, every day an opportunity to delve into different worlds, whether it be that of a pirate or Elsa from Frozen. Both boys and girls are entitled to the freedom to experiment without judgement, particularly the judgement of a stranger in the street.

Manufacturers do not help with their pink and blue signage, sending boys to the aisles of superheroes and girls to aisles of dolls and unicorns. Campaign groups, such as Let Toys Be Toys, have had great success in tackling this gender division but the people peddling toys are only part of the problem: the wider public needs to catch up to the idea of gender equality too.

Toys entertain our children, but they also offer valuable skills, ideas and life-lessons. Think tanks and politicians have engaged in the debate, suggesting little girls who love Lego could, eventually, redress the balance in globally male-dominated fields like engineering and science.

Playing with dolls encourages skills like compassion and nurturing which may well help our little boys eventually redress the balance in female-dominated “caring” professions like nursing and primary school teaching.

If nothing else, having spent much of my 20s bemoaning the emotionally crippled, domestically inept men I was dating, I’m delighted at the idea of a son who will reach adulthood with a capacity for caring and the ability to boil a kettle.

I’m glad that my boisterous son loves his train set and tea set in equal measure. He also enjoys playing dress up as a fireman, astronaut and, like little Zackary, is no stranger to donning the odd frock.

Haylee Bazen admits that she previously refused her son’s request to wear his princess outfit to nursery but changed her mind when she realised she was allowing the narrow-minded opinions of others interfere with her son’s happiness.

In a heartfelt open letter to the woman who “shamed” Zackary’s choices she states that her “awesome” son “can be who he wants to be”. Some days that will be a pirate or a zombie, some days Snow White.

She suggests it is, in fact, the “shamer” who should be embarrassed to leave the house and I couldn’t agree more. My son and I doff our hats to you both. And whether that’s a fireman’s helmet or tiara, that will be entirely his choice.