Messing Round With Gender Roles?
Thursday 3rd of October 2013 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Kerrie McGiveronIn light of Toys R Us removing their labels for girls and boys toys, I would like to just say that I for one am very glad that this is happening. As a mother of three young girls with very different personalities, I think that it is so important not to pigeon-hole our babies from such an early age.
Now we all know that pretty girls wear pink and boys wear blue and green. But do we ever stop to think why this is? Do girls naturally pick pink to wear for themselves? Do boys know that blue is a ‘man’s colour?’ No, they don’t. This is something that is taught to them from a very early age. It is a social and cultural construction. Now I am not saying that this is a bad thing, my girls wear pink a lot. I like pink, it suits them. I am just saying that it is worth standing back and thinking why it is that we actually do this.
So it is the same with toys. Girls play with dolls and mop and dust pan sets and play Mummy. Boys play with construction toys and trucks and cars and be Daddy. Again, there is little wrong with this – I am sure that most of us have been brought up this way and we turned out OK (ish?) But the year is 2013, and us women are workers as well. We don’t just look after the babies and clean the house, and yet we are sold toys that teach our daughters that this is the right thing to do . This is the done thing. We are sold toys that show our boys that Daddy fixes things with his hammer, Daddy drives the car and does the DIY. A lot of Daddy’s in real life do the cleaning and the cooking, they look after the baby – feed the baby, push the baby in the buggy. Again, I am not saying that letting our children play with these toys is wrong, I am merely asking the question.
Who invented these gender roles? I think that it is us who invented them Babies are not born with an innate sense of what their gender role should be. We teach them what it is that we do. So maybe we should move with the times, and let our kids just play with what they want to play with and be who they want to be.
So I for one applaud the removal of gender-specific labelling of toys. Let the kids play with whatever they like. We all know that the complexities of life will be upon them before they know it - let’s let them enjoy their childhood with whatever toys they choose.
