Having toys divided by gender can create stereotypes, in fact, according to BBC, “The Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP) says harmful stereotypes in adverts “contribute to how people see themselves and their role in society”, and can hold some people back.” What this is saying is that having toys divided by gender can make kids think they should not want that doll, or that new car. It could also lead them to say, “No mom that’s for boys.” or, “No mom that’s for girls.”
Lego came out with Lego Friends in 2012, which was specifically designed for girls. In 2014, 7-year-old Charlotte wrote to Lego because she was disappointed with the range of products “for girls”. She said, “All the girls did was sit at home, go to the beach, and shop, and they had no jobs, but the boys went on adventures, worked, saved people, and had jobs, even swam with sharks.” According to Charlotte’s complaints, boys were pictured doing more adventurous things, while girls were just shopping and staying home, which according to her, was boring.
Customers and sellers are trapped in an endless circle, where the customer buys what they think they should – girls pink and boys blue – because of what companies sell them, but companies sell those products because the customers buy them.
Having gendered toys makes kids think that because something is in “their section” they should want it, and that they are not allowed to like or want things from the other section. For example, a boy goes to the store and passes by the “girls” section, he sees a doll that he really likes and he really wants to play with it. However, he does not take a second look at it because “it’s for girls”.
Yes, some girls do like dolls, or pink but there is also girls that like cars, or superheroes, or blue. Yes, there are some boys that like blue, or action figures, but there are also boys who like barbie dolls, or pink. Having said this the question is, why is there such a thing as girls toys and boys toys?
Well, according to Sam Smethers, Fawcett Society Chief Executive, “The commercial sector too often uses gender stereotypes and segregates boys and girls simply to sell more products.”
This does not only happen with toys but also clothing.
Toy and clothing retailers have to stop gender marketing, gender stereotypes are harmful, and gender marketing just encourages gender stereotypes.
I’m not saying to make everything gender neutral, because kids do like the things with those colors, whether it’s a boy or a girl. What I’m saying is that we should not label things as “for boys” and “for girls”.