In: Psychology
The author brings out the gender based toy industry which has divided the children with pink and blue colors. She says that till 1960s the toy ads were more job and responsibility oriented. For example, girls’ toys advertisements promoted the household duties saying that these toys will help the girl children learn the household tasks with those toys. Boys’ toys advertisements promoted the industrial jobs that were becoming popular during that time.
During the 1970s more women started to work in various industries, so the household toys started losing their prominence and toys were used without any gender identity. The cultural change in terms of feminism and the quotes such as men are from Mars and women are from Venus started to take the toll and the result, gender based toys. Today, most of the toy manufacturers and sellers have given exclusive toys for boys and girls, blue for boys and pink for girls. Even the bigger players like Disney have separate sections for boys and girls toys and there are very few toys that are gender neutral. This according to the author doesn’t promote gender stereotype but reaffirms the gender they belong to with lots of freedom and choice that they can make in their lives.