At the weekend I was shopping with my daughter searching for a sleep trainer for her young niece.
We searched through every toy shop in town. We did eventually find a sleeptrainer but what we found along the way filled me with disappointment.

My daughter is 22 and I don’t spend much time in toy shops anymore so I was shocked to see just how divided they are…
‘Girls’ toys on one side easy to find because of the blaring shades of pink..
‘Boys’ toys on the other indicated by their hard dark blue and red colouration.

Now lets think.. In the last 20 years we’ve seen female prime minister’s and pilots, bus drivers and builders, women have climbed mountains and even become astronaut’s but what was on offer for the little girls ...
A mini dishwasher, a mini hoover ,an ironing board and iron, a cash register and play shopping basket, plus the usual baby dolls and overly endowed teenage dolls which only re-enforce the idea that all women should be skinny,  big boobs and brainless..

For the boys it wasn’t any better, various cars, trucks and construction toys gave way to robots that fight, shoot guns and blow each other apart, soldier dolls are the only male doll deemed suitable for our male offspring so setting the role model at fighter/soldier/killer level.

Seroiusly by this time, brainless booby doll was looking more pleasant by the second.

What about a kitchen for boys ? Some of the worlds best chefs are men, is the fame of Gordon Ramsey minus the F word to or Jamie Oliver nothing for boys to look up to ???
There are many people in life more worthy and admirable than killer soldiers or overpaid sports personalities for our boys to impersonate..

Yet when it comes to toys it seems we are still putting our children into the same sexual and social stereotypical moulds that we were 40 or 50 years ago.
Men are tough, don’t cry, don’t show emotion, make great soldiers and women stay at home, look after house and baby and do shopping..

I felt like kicking that stuff off the shelves it was so frustrating, how on earth are children supposed to grow up with any sense of freedom or ambition when they are being shaped and pressed into the conformity mould at such a young age?

just a short opinion, I agree, the toys are are like that, but maybe today parents let their children choose the toys they like, weather they seem to belong to girl or boy. Instead of saying their son he needs to choose this kind of toy because he is a boy and these toys are for boys

I prefer pastels for girls and any Beatrix Potter toys.

Ms. Cassandra

I just happened upon this post that you wrote awhile back and agree totally. 

To add to what you were saying, are we all aware of the FACT that in the US, Canada and I’m sure in England also, the colleges and universities are graduating MORE WOMEN THEN MEN.  Do we understand the implications to this fact????  Down the road, when men and women are trying to get the “upper” position jobs, the WOMEN will be more prepaired because there will be more women THAT HAVE PREPAIRED THAN MEN.  We are, more or less, on the brink of a super big change in the world with the fact that in the future more WOMEN will be in the leadership roles both in Industry but also in politics.  I feel, this will be a fabulous world.

It also appears that while the women are more prepaired for the “upper” position jobs, the men will be more suited for the “blue collar” jobs.  While the wife is running some company, the man will be home being a “househusband”.  (many community colleges in the US are NOW offering classes geared for the HUSBAND to learn cooking, housekeeping, taking care of children etc.) 

TOYS???????  What will happen in the future???  Will the toys be geared quite a bit different?? Sure they will.  There might be a few cars ect. for boys, but quite a few people are thinking that dolls, toy kitchens and housecleaning toys will be more for the boys and WHAT WILL BE FOR THE GIRLS.  It seems that LEARNING toys will be appropriate for girls.  Toys that would encourage girls into going into science, industry, politics and a 100% more math.
For a few more years people will have too suffer with the junk we now have, but not far off, you will see the change taking place, slowwwwwwly but surely.

Just rambling, but we are seeing the beginning of this world.  Its happening in schools around the world.

Jelly

Thanks ... There are good toy stores out there too ones that only sell toys that have an educational value.

My children had toys of all sorts everything went into a huge crate and they picked out what they wanted..
A friend of mine insisted on buying my daughter Barbie dolls every birthday Christmas and holiday visit..My son would make new clothes for them!

We taught them all to cook clean sew and to fix bikes , cars , do DIY. My son in law built an aviary recently but it was my daughter who made the door with the hinges and lock because he wasnt sure how to!

Im sure that toy manufactuers will wake up one day , maybe when this generation of children take the helm?

cassandra - 10 Sep 2011 05:38 AM

Thanks ... There are good toy stores out there too ones that only sell toys that have an educational value.

My children had toys of all sorts everything went into a huge crate and they picked out what they wanted..
A friend of mine insisted on buying my daughter Barbie dolls every birthday Christmas and holiday visit..My son would make new clothes for them!

We taught them all to cook clean sew and to fix bikes , cars , do DIY. My son in law built an aviary recently but it was my daughter who made the door with the hinges and lock because he wasnt sure how to!

Im sure that toy manufactuers will wake up one day , maybe when this generation of children take the helm?

Sylvanian Families and lego can be enjoyed by both.