Gender neutral toys used to be the norm within marketing of toys in magazines and in toy stores. However, this has drastically changed today, as toys are more gendered than ever. The gendering of boys and girls toys started increasing within the 1980's. Catalogs with gender neutral toys started to disappear and pink and blue washed toys appeared. Marketers realized they could make double the money by doubling the target audience into two defined segments of boys and girls. Society, including teachers and parents, contribute to this social construction by only buying pink girl toys for girls and blue boy toys for boys. For example, at a preschool graduation, girls received pink necklaces and boys received blue necklaces. This gendering is starting at such a young age and and it is limiting to girls especially in gaining valuable knowledge and reaching their fullest potential within a career. It’s easy to assume children are born naturally liking certain toys. However, both biological and social factors influence kids’ choices about what toys to play with and how to play with them. It is both nature and nurture, one or the other. However, social aspects are still important and start very young. Toys that are given to children socialize and shape who they are. Once again, toys divided by gender now more than ever and this could be because of society socializing children more today.
Girls toys encourage skills that are simple such as caregiving, domesticity, attractiveness, communication and emotional skills. Boys toys include STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) skills that encourage boys to gain successful careers such as doctors, scientists, engineers, and other prestigious careers. If girls are limited to these toys, they will not learn as much as they can to be as successful as the boys. 71 percent of engineers are males and this is no coincidence with the fact that boys are socialized with more toys related to this field. Gendered toys also instill stereotypes in boys and girls that should not be instilled. Toys tend to draw in hyper masculine and hyper feminine boys and girls and if you do not fit within this stereotype, you are bullied. These toys try to instill passive femininity and powerful masculinity as well. This influences women to be more submissive to men and influence men to take all the power.
There are some changes that are starting to be made in order to contribute to gender neutral toys. Stores are starting to organize toys with a rainbow of colors opposed to pink and blue. Also, toy stores are organizing toys by age and theme and not gender. They are also including more neutral, wood-grain looks as well. Some companies are even producing girls toys with the educational boys skills that boys toys have. For example, a company called Goldieblox created an woman action figure doll with flowing red hair, combat boots, and engineering skills for women. There are some controversies with creating female toys with boys skills instead of just creating gender neutral toys. First of all, LEGOS created a Lego Friends version for girls and a Lego City version for boys. They created the Lego Friends so girls could get the skills from building and critically thinking boys get from Legos. However, they create these versions with gender in mind, therefore the girls play with the toys with gender in mind. Lego Friends encourages girls to focus on hobbies, being domestic, caring for others, socializing, being amateurs, and striving for beauty. They do not encourage the STEM skills creators intend.
Gender neutral toys are the best hope for both genders reaching their fullest potential in careers. Every time children play with toys, they're getting something out of it. They're learning something about the world. Therefore, boys and girls need to experience equal opportunities by both genders playing with the same types of toys. Do not be afraid to break the social construction in fear of bullying for your child. A child’s education and future needs to be prioritized.
Sources:
Francis, B. (2010). Gender, toys and learning. Oxford Review of Education, 36(3), 325–344.
-Hudak, K. C. (2017). Deceiving or disrupting the pink aisle? GoldieBlox, corporate narratives, and the gendered toy debate. Communication & Critical/Cultural Studies, 14(2), 158–175.
Oksman, O. (2016, May 28). Are gendered toys harming childhood development? Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/may/28/toys-kids-girls-boys-childhood-development-gender-research
Reich, S. M., Black, R. W., & Foliaki, T. (n.d.). Constructing Difference: LegoA (R) Set Narratives Promote Stereotypic Gender Roles and Play. SEX ROLES, 79(5–6), 285–298