The Tiger Who Came to Tea, the 1968 children’s classic by Jewish author and artist Judith Kerr, is “problematic” and reinforces stereotypical gender roles, a campaigner has said.

Zero Tolerance co-director Rachel Adamson appeared on BBC Radio Scotland on Monday to discuss the findings of the charity’s recent gender and equality audit of thousands of children's books.

“I know this will make a lot of people unhappy,” she told host Connie McLaughlin. “I am a big fan of [The Tiger Who Came to Tea]. I’ll let you know Judith Kerr is a wonderful author. 

“However it is reflective of a society that we need to think more closely about.”

The short story, in which a tiger invites himself to a family’s afternoon tea, features “very stereotypical roles,” she said, suggesting the fictional character could have been female or gender neutral instead. 

“Some of the language, ‘the mother is preparing dad’s dinner’, it’s very much this role of mum just as carer and just there to provide for the child, for the tiger and for her husband,” she said.

She also appeared to criticise the ending, in which the father comes home and “saves the day by taking them out for dinner”, saying it was an “old-fashioned stereotypical view of the world.” 

Ms Adamson said she did not advocate for the book to come out of circulation and called for wider discussion on gender roles. 

The comments sparked some criticism, with literary agent Peter Cox telling the Evening Standard  "writers need to be free to explore ideas.”

Mr Cox, of Redhammer, told the outlet: “The publishing industry is hyper-sensitive. Just think. If Judith Kerr was alive still, criticism like this could make her unpublishable."

Ms Kerr, who died in 2019 aged 95, settled in England after fleeing Nazi Germany. When asked what the book was about, the late author once insisted it was "about a Tiger who comes to tea."

Ms Kerr's estate declined to comment.