Do you remember your favorite toy from your childhood? At that time, our toys meant the world to us. They were our best friends. We fought for them with our siblings. We cried in front of our parents to get gold of our favorite ones.  We yearned for the time when we would get to play with our toys.

Maybe, many of us still cherish the toys from our childhood for all the pleasant memories associated with them. These memories carry a special place in our hearts and revisiting them gives us a temporary escape to a happy place. However, apart from being a significant part of our playtime, toys have a paramount importance in shaping  our journey of being a current version of ourselves.

A child’s socialization is a continuous process and is believed to be the most malleable and hence crucial during their formative years. This is the phase when they start gaining awareness of their existence and get familiarized with their surroundings. Every day they feel, observe and comprehend things happening around them. From perceptions of their parents, teachers, and society to cartoons they watch and toys they play with everything has a distinct impact on a child’s learning process. Among all, toys play a significant role in their life. This source of influence is omnipresent in a child’s life and hence shapes their ideas of what to expect in the world out there. Each toy has a different role in a child’s growth and development. Toys like play dough, building blocks, drawing books, paint and accessories, gardening sets, musical instruments stimulate creativity and artistic development. Themed toys and books develop recognition skills. Kitchen sets and doll houses construct a child’s imagination of real-life things. While stacking improves hand-eye coordination and motor skills, ride-on toys build balance and strength. Playing with dolls and stuffed toys enhance social and emotional skills, and the list goes on.

Gender biases in toys

Like a toy is not concerned about who is playing with it, a child also doesn’t question which toy they are playing with. They simply enjoy playing with a toy that fascinates them. For them, a toy is a toy. If a child doesn’t pick a toy in accordance with their gender then where do the labels of girls’ and boys’ toys come from? 

Have you ever visited a toy shop and asked a salesperson to show children’s toys?

Those of you, who have, will most likely corroborate our findings – first thing the salesperson would want to know is whether the toy is for a boy or a girl?

The demarcation of toys for girls and boys is done way before children can decide their preferences. This segregation has been done not on the basis of a child’s likes and dislikes but on society’s preconceived notions of gender roles. In a study conducted by Judith E. Owen Blakemore, Professor of Psychology at Indiana University-Purdue University in Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA., more than 100 toys were classified to depict their association with boys, girls or neither. While speaking in an interview to NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children) about this study, Judith mentioned that toys associated with boys were more affiliated to emotions of adventure, aggression, excitement, and fighting whereas those classified as ‘for girls’ were centered on appearances, caring behavior, domestic skills, and physical attractiveness. These labels of “for girls” and “for boys” on toys create a deep impact on a child’s understanding of Gender norms and their Gender identities. 

Impact on future choices/ career paths

Childhood interests may leave an everlasting impact on a child’s beliefs and may even guide their choices over time. Their familiarity with the toys they were exposed to as a child further influences their preferences of clothes, favorite cartoon characters or superheroes, hobbies, perceptions about other people, etc. Even important decisions like career choices can be influenced by their childhood interests. A study was conducted by Associate Professor Laura Scholes from Australian Catholic University and Dr. Sarah McDonald from the University of South Australia; with 7 and 8 years old children who had decided their career paths. It was found that the top three careers chosen by boys included professional sports, jobs in the fields of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), and policing or defense whereas for the girls the top choices were to become teachers, vets, or to work in the field of arts. 

This indicates how choices are affected by Gender-stereotyped beliefs seeded in their early childhood. While teaching children what is right and what is wrong, consciously or unconsciously through toy segregation we give them our gendered perception which seriously impacts their future choices and career paths. This segregation of toys often limits their interest in careers that are exclusively labeled as masculine and feminine.

One-sided range of learning

Career roles that earlier expected a woman to have soft skills and a man to have hard skills are getting reshaped in the 21st century. Therefore, it is even more important to teach different skills to a child from a young age itself. But exposing children to only Gender-stereotyped toys will only hamper their ability to learn overall skills. Limiting their learning and thought process to only one set of traits desensitizes them towards Gender and hinders overall growth and development. For instance, playing with dolls develops a child’s emotional quotient, makes them more empathetic, and strengthens their caring and nurturing skills. Whereas, playing with toy cars and planes help in the development of their motor skills, stimulates their imagination and creativity, and also reduces their fear of taking up exciting and adventurous hobbies. All these skills are equally important for a growing child irrespective of what Gender they belong to. Therefore, each toy has its own role in nurturing a child into a well-rounded individual. 

Media and Gender bias

Even today several brands and commercial toy-sellers rely on their biased perception for advertising their products. In many toy stores or malls, barbies, dollhouses, kitchen sets etc. are stacked together in one section labeled as ‘for girls’ or saliently colored in shades of pink. Whereas toys like cars, trucks, bats, superheroes, etc. are stacked together in a separate section, labeled as ‘for boys’ or dyed in blue color.

But in a few crevices the narrative is changing and big companies like Google are taking initiatives to break such biases. Recently, Google released an advertisement, where a girl was fascinated by the moon. She always questioned her uncle or searched on Google about it. On her birthday when everyone brought dolls for her she became unhappy. When her uncle came to wish her, she asked him if he too had brought her a doll. Later on the ad shows the girl’s elation on receiving a telescope from him. Unlike everyone else, her uncle did not stick to a gender-defined view on toys. Every child deserves such an adult or parent, who attempts to rein in their biases and gives more importance to their child’s inclination and choices. 

Alternative/Gender-neutral toys

We can’t predict if a young girl would be more interested in playing football over a jewelry-making set or a boy would be more interested in playing with a cooking set instead of a Batman figurine. Thus, initially there is a need to find toys which encourage children to be proactive and support them in exploring and learning new things. This can include mind games like puzzles, scrabble, shape sorters, chess, jenga, and crosswords; block sets like LEGO bricks and Duplo blocks; toy versions of musical instruments like piano, guitar, drums, and orchestra; art and craft toys like drawing books, colors, play dough, block-printing games; sporting toys like football, basketball, tennis kit, badminton, skipping rope etc. Other examples of neutral toys are stuffed toys, puppets, stacking games, bowling sets, board games, building sets, pull-along toys, story books, science kits, outdoor exploration toys like globes, map puzzles and the list is never-ending. Handing out these toys to children irrespective of their gender holds paramount importance in this process. These Gender-neutral toys should be opted for a child instead of those assigned to a particular gender. Gender-neutral toys are open-ended toys which let a child explore their interests, preferences, identity, and build an understanding of a holistic world. They help a child to look at and explore things from a broader perspective. They not only enhance their diverse skill set but also give a boost to their imagination and creativity. Therefore, children learn new dimensions about themselves and other Genders, and are able to develop a deeper sense of respect for each other. Moreover, it allows them to truly discover their individuality and choose a more fulfilling career avenue.

Toys can be overwhelming for a child. From birth to five years of age is the most critical time period for a child’s development. Thus, a guardian must look for opportunities to expand learning while playing.The importance of toys in a child’s life can’t be overlooked. Therefore, it is crucial for parents or guardians to make the right choices in the form of toys for children. Initially, one should expose a child to Gender-neutral toys and let them develop their preferences and choices over the years. These decisions should be taken wisely because who a child ends up being in the future will be influenced by what they learn from their surroundings in their formative years.

Written By: Rashi Chandhiok
About the Author
Currently pursuing her bachelor’s degree in law from UILS, Panjab University, Chandigarh. She always tries to look for opportunities to learn and explore new things. Her sole motivation to join TARA was the aim of Gender equitable environment and contributing to society in whichever way possible. In spare time, you can find her playing with her dog.