HOW TOYS AFFECTS GENDER ROLES?

A toy that can be used to build and create structure, formation, and various objects. It allows the child playing with it to gain understanding of shape, size, and embeds an ability to create structures from a simple set of rules. There are almost limitless possibilities even with a random assortment of blocks. Then there are the kits. These teach children how to follow instructions in order to create something, potentially something quite complex. It also teaches comprehension and how to think logically; a process of steps to complete a goal. To an extent, it teaches organisational skills, assuming you lay out pieces in sections to easily find them as some do.

Toy manufacturers market gender-specific toys towards to girls and boys, perpetuating traditional gender roles. Children learn about what it means to be a man or a woman through pretend play. While it is fine for a girl to have a room full of pink princess toys, she might enjoy building a train track or crashing a car. Boys might enjoy taking a break from building block towers and shooting squirt guns to make a pretend meal in a toy kitchen.

When it comes to gender and toys, the pink-and-blue divide is as pronounced as ever, suggests a new study released earlier this month at the height of toy buying season."The data is showing clearly that marketers are still segmenting children into highly-stereotypical categories by gender," Rebecca Hains, advertising and media studies professor at Salem State University, told The Current's Anna Maria Tremonti.

The study, by the British group Let Toys Be Toys, looked at toy catalogues and found that boys were four times as likely to be shown playing with cars, and girls were nearly twice as likely to be shown with kitchens or other "domestic" play.It is easy for parents or anyone to fall into the trap of “boys will be boys and girls will be girls.” Instead, kids should get to be who they want to be, not the stereotypes people make of them. It is not only parents that influence this but schools, daycares, programs, and sports do as well. While a parent can try to prevent this, what goes on behind the scenes is not always up to them. A lot of people wont do anything about this because they don’t know how. They feel that the store limits their options .One thing parents and teachers can do, is to buy neutral colors such as yellow, and red so that kids won’t have a “pink is for girls and blue is for boys” type image in their heads. As the Michigan State University Extension stated, “The bottom line is that for healthy overall brain development, boys and girls need opportunities to develop a wide range of skills – and the toys they play with can make a difference.”

Typically, parents will buy pink toys and dolls for their girls and trucks for their boys. Even though this is how toys are advertised and sold, they should be able to play with whatever toy makes them happy regardless of what “gender” the toy fulfills. According to the Guardian News article, “Target announced in 2015 that it would get rid of signs labeling toys for boys or for girls. A UK campaign called Let Toys Be Toys seeks to get retailers to stop categorizing toys and books for one gender only.”

“We know that these stereotypes that are being shaped and reinforced can be linked to a lot of different things from educational and occupational goals to academic ability to social development,” Dr. Zimmermann said. “It is really important to have children get this broad range of experiences.”As children grow up, Dr. Spinner said, they do tend to become more flexible about what boys and girls can do; 7-year-olds are less rigid than 4- or 5-year-olds. But the messages they get from their environment are important, and so is the chance to play with toys — and with other children — in ways that don’t box them in too tightly.“Mixed gender play is really important, getting boys and girls to play with one another and recognize behavioral similarities,” Dr. Spinner said. “Children can overcome their anxieties about playing with other-gender children if you can get them to understand there are a lot of similarities in what they like to play with, rather than focusing on the gender of the child.”