Gendered toys

About the project

Equality - Masculinity - Femininity - Gender roles - Stereotypes

Connection to the Education Policy: Social skills

Type of material: Supplementary content

Target audience: Staff and professional development

Subjects: Equality, Self-Image, Stereotypes, LGBT+

Gendered toys

When a child is expected, prospective parents are often asked 'Do you know the sex of the baby?' and likewise, the child's sex is typically the first thing inquired about after birth.

Society, both consciously and unconsciously, holds different expectations for the child depending on whether they are a girl or a boy, belonging to the 'blue team' or the 'pink team'. These colors are widely used to distinguish between the sexes. The diversity within each sex is not accounted for, assuming that boys have interests and strengths in certain areas and girls in others.

It's crucial not to overlook the influence of socialization when discussing the differences between sexes. From birth, children receive strong messages about which team they belong to and what characteristics each team embodies.

Toy manufacturers extensively use colors to make a clear distinction between girls' and boys' toys. As soon as a child enters a toy store, they are guided to the correct section by color. The child then chooses either the pink aisle, the blue aisle, or the gender-neutral aisle (which is often the smallest in the store). Not only are the toys in distinct colors, but they are also very different. Boys' toys often aim to make boys active, creative, strong, and also offer a lot of physical activity. For example, superhero and police costumes, building materials, various types and sizes of weapon toys, fast cars, and helicopters. Not to forget, an entire world of Lego has been created for boys. They can choose to build anything, from spacecraft to submarines. Lego for boys significantly challenges their creativity, imagination, foresight, and patience.

Girls' toys aim for girls to play quietly. The toys encourage their caring nature and service roles, like doll toys and cleaning toys such as vacuum cleaners and ironing boards. There are also many toys intended for little girls to pay attention to their appearance, like styling heads, plastic high heels, pretend makeup products, plastic jewelry, and princess dresses. In fairy tales, they learn that if they are sweet and proper enough (like the story of Cinderella), a prince will come and save them!

Lego for girls is a specially designed world called 'Heartlake City', where the figures resemble small Barbie dolls more than Lego figures. It is home to five named girl friends, each with a specific role. The activities in girls' Lego do not test the children's creativity or imagination because it has been predetermined that the friends either bake cupcakes, go to the hairdresser, to the beach, to the beauty salon, or make their home beautiful. All are calm and measured games in the spirit of the pink color.

In addition to the colors chosen for toy packaging, it is often clear who the toys are intended for with photos or drawings on the package. This way, it should be clear to every child which sex a particular toy belongs to.

No one says boys can't buy or play with dolls or girls with cars, but the way toys are marketed doesn't make it any easier for them.

The result of gendered toys is that stereotypes about the sexes begin to grow in children's minds from an early age. Girls are considered gentle, caring, and beautiful while boys are seen as brave, loud, and strong. Children are very young when they start to measure themselves against these characteristics because they want to do and be like the others in their group.

Adults need to be aware of how toy manufacturers subtly direct children's interests, what is often considered children's independent choice is frequently manipulated by market forces. It's important to critically examine gendered toys and regularly try to dismantle stereotypes.