Paging Dr. Barbie
BY MOIRA MOYNIHAN
One of my most distinct memories from elementary school is president’s day. Each year, Folwell Elementary celebrated by having each of the 5th grade students dress up and give one-minute speeches on the President or First Lady that he or she was assigned to represent. I was Jacquie O. She, however, was not my first choice. Our year was unusually small, so there were not enough students to fill all of the roles. I asked my teacher, Mrs. Mehring, if I could be a president instead, wisely suggesting that I could pin my hair across my face to look like a beard for a more accurate visual portrayal. The answer was a resounding no. Despite the fact that there were not enough boys to play each of the Presidents, girls were not allowed to fill the role; so, I was a Jacquie O with no JFK, and many of my female friends were asked to be obscure First Ladies, even with many presidential vacancies to be filled. Al¬ready a self declared feminist, I was outraged, but I shouldn’t have been surprised. Every¬where children look, there are signs telling them what future is available to them based on their gender. In our classroom, the boys got to play with dolls who were soldiers, mad scientists, presidents, and doctors, while the girls got Barbies who were nurses, teachers, and brides.
As benign as these career distinctions in toys may be, they have an effect. Decades later, we see these separations reflected in the job market, with a dearth of women in politics and stem fields, and the perpetuation of the so called “pink-collar” labor force, with careers in nursing and teaching being perceived as strictly feminine endeavors. There are several theories as to why women are underrepresented in certain fields, and women repeatedly cite a lack of role models as a primary reason for avoiding certain fields, and there is an implicit structural misogyny that tells women that they don’t belong in fields where they don’t see people who look like them. The same is true of other marginalized populations, and it is incredibly difficult to enter a field where you are the only woman, queer person, differently-abled person, or person of color in the room.
Although the careers associated with children’s toys may not be the primary cause of the lack of diversity in certain fields, the effects of these gendered distinctions are not negligible. A 2007 study by Nancy Freeman, published in the Early Childhood Education Journal, found that young children ca “accurately apply common gender stereotypes to toys by the time they are three” and, more¬over, are able to predict parental reactions to playing with these toys. From a young age, girls know that playing with soldiers and truck (or for boys with princesses and brides
To be fair, the lack of diverse careers among gendered toys has improved markedly in the last few decades. Where Barbie was once only a wife, then teacher or nurse, she now is employed in a whole slew of careers, including one as president. However, looking to archetypal characters in children’s toys, the disparity still exists. You would be hard pressed to find many “mad-scientist” toys that aren’t modeled after men or cartoon presidents who are women. In some ways, this is a self perpetuating problem, as toy companies model their product to reflect the real world, which subsequently shapes children’s’ expectations of what they “should” be when they grow up.
Children’s toys may be one small part of a larger system of institutionalized discrimination against people with marginal identities. Even when parents make active efforts to build a just and equitable home, a child who observes only his or her mother taking on domestic tasks after work or only sees her exhibit nurturing traits will associate these behaviors with her gender, regardless of other attempts at providing diverse role models. On a wider scale, though, it is important that we continue to supply less gendered toys to the consumer, an expansion that would com¬bat the implied gender appropriate careers presented in toys presently. Within the home, there is also a lot that parents and guardians can do as well. I was lucky, in that, by having an older brother, I was able to enjoy hand-me-down toys “meant” for boys without having to justify a disinterest in princesses. Moreover, my mother purposefully bought us more building blocks and stuffed animals than dolls, giving us the opportunity to imagine and to play without being burdened by toys that were explicitly trying to inculcate us with gender roles. While gender-neutral toys are perhaps the best alternative to the current toy-market, it is my sincere hope that more diverse dolls will be the norm soon. Though the battle for gender-diverse careers for toys may seem less fruitful than a fight for equality among those already in the job market, by providing Dr. Barbie and Nurse Ken to the current generation of children, we will send an early message, that any future is available to them, without the contingency of gender.