I’m a Mum to four kids who seem to migrate towards brightly coloured plastic tat, so the Early Learning Centre has been a frequently visited shop for us over the last ten years. I’ve always been relatively impressed by their range of art supplies like air drying clay, paint and suchlike but the range of toys left me cold – primarily because it seemed to be extremely pricey for our salary range but also because the toys stereotyped by gender left me feeling enraged.
I have two sons and two daughters. I spend a significant amount of my parenting time assuring my amazing children that they can be anything they choose to be even though the Fawcett Society has highlighted that women working full-time still face being paid 17% less than their male counterparts on an hourly basis – a figure that rises to 20% if that woman happens to be from an ethnic minority, 36% if she works part-time and 45% if she both works part-time and works in London. Doesn’t that disgust you? It appalls me and I don’t think it matters if you’re a feminist or not, this pay gap affects every single working person out there. It’s revolting that in this day and age where we’re all supposed to be forward-thinking, liberal and equal that it’s acceptable for the pay gap to still be tangible.
With that in mind, it’s not like I expect the toy companies to pick up the slack for the pay gap but – and this is a big but – this kind of gender stereotyping begins at such an early age and the Early Learning Centre’s marketing is just one admittedly major example of this. Let me show you a webpage from the ELC’s retail site (click for embiggenisation):
Just in case you’re a complete thicket, I’ve highlighted the relevant parts and following the ELC’s lead I’ve even used the appropriate colours. Quite simply, if you have a daughter she’s clearly a princess who aspires to be a nurse or a ballerina. If you have a son, he can be a doctor because of course it’s a man’s job. Right from pre-school levels our children are being segregated into traditional gender roles before they really have a concept of gender constructs themselves.
You know what else pisses me off? And these are simply examples from presents our kids have been bought – a pink shopping till and basket because obviously only women do the shopping or work in retail. A blue multistorey garage since only boys like cars. They even have a pink GLOBE just in case our daughters are too female to look at a regular one. Heaven forbid, eh?
In the interests of fairness, I emailed the ELC yesterday saying:
I have to be honest straight off the bat and say that my post is going to be criticising the shift over the last 10 years in the ELC’s product range. I have personally avoided ELC since giving birth to my daughter 3 years ago as I realised how heavily gender stereotyped ELC chooses to be and the final straw for me today was seeing this page which tells me that my daughter can be a nurse but only my son can be a doctor.
The product range reinforces traditional gender roles – pink microwaves, dolls prams and kitchen sets for girls, dinosaurs and train sets for boys which contradicts the UK educational system’s approach to free play and I would greatly appreciate a statement with regards to this concern.
Their spokesperson responded today with this:
‘Come down to Early learning Centre and see for yourself the huge range of toys in an assortment of colours. Customers can choose a red kitchen, a blue kitchen, a blue cash register, a yellow dolls house or a gorgeous farm
Our photography features boys ironing, girls playing with space aliens, boys playing with dolls, boys cooking and pushing buggies, girls building and playing with remote control insects. We offer anyone who wants to buy toys so much to choose from that no one should feel disappointed when they walk into our stores.
which comprehensively answered my query. Or not.
I’m interested to know how other parents feel about it. Do you identify as feminist? Do you agree with what I’m saying or do you think I’m overreacting?
Posted under for the kids
This post was written by Vonnie on July 22, 2010
The fact that they offer a pink and a blue of anything indicates that they have gender-marked those things. A pink toaster and a blue toaster – why not a silver one and be done? A pink washing machine and a blue one. A pink vacuum cleaner and a blue one. It goes on and on.
Agree with everything you’ve written and frequently get absolute rage about this. I’m sure being feminists we’re much more hyper-aware of these things, but it does cross my mind when reading the marketing copy/bile, did whoever write that seriously not consider that what they were saying was so out-dated if nothing else.
I can see where you’re coming from, though it’s probably unfair to single out the ELC. They’re a business operating according to the laws of supply and demand, so they stock (and advertise) what they think (hope) will sell. If no-one bought the stuff, no-one would stock it. They clearly advertise in that way because it works. So maybe we’re all to blame (as a society).
On a side note – shopping with principles is a nightmare for those of us that don’t do it. I had to re-buy easter eggs for your spawn earlier in the year because I only realised once I’d got home that several of them were Nestle. Not a complaint, since I got several easter eggs out of it myself, but what you may think is ZOMG awful!!!111 will likely pass the bulk of us by as a non-issue.
It isn’t just the ELC – M&S have done it and there is still a myriad of stuff out there keen to label your child from the earliest possible age. But we do have to take some responsibility as consumers. However strongly I have felt about this in the past I have often forgotten myself when faced with something really cute that I know my daughter will love. They say it is easier to shop for girls – and actually that is only because toy retailers stock often looks like a tiny plastic version of Comet and Currys..
I’m likely gonna get shredded for this, but I don’t see it as an issue.
Kids don’t give a toss, it’s only adults that make stuff like this into An Issue.
Morgan’s favourite colour is pink or purple, depending on her mood.
Lee’s is blue – Or pink, depending on his mood.
Little girls like pink. It’s an undeniable fact, and whether or not the reason for it is brainwashing by the toy industry, genetic predeliction towards that end of the spectrum, or simply the circular statement that “Little girls like pink because little girls like pink”… there are more important things to get into a tizzy about.
Same goes for boys and blue.
Is it worth getting angry about?
Is it worth denying the kids a toy that they like simply because the advertising department aren’t above conforming to traditional stereotypes in order to more effectively do their job?
I don’t think so.
You, on the other hand, are completely within your rights to disagree
As for ELC’s reply to you – Given that you didn’t actually ask a question, I think they pretty much did address your concerns with their answer.
Would you HONESTLY expect them to put a little boy in a pink fairy dress on their website?
In fact, out of curiosity… If one of your sons asked for such an item of clothing for his birthday or Christmas – What would you say?
As an aside, since it’s not directly related to the topic at hand…
What do you ( Vonnie and everyone else ) think about some of the toys that are on sale now mimicking potentially lethal household appliances?
OK, we’ve been able to enjoy cold beans and swiss rolls for decades now with A La Carte Kitchen, but I recently saw toy fondue sets, pressure cookers, DEEP FAT FRYERS for god’s sake!
Drills, chainsaws, power tools – I can kinda get by those being available as the genuine article tends to be out of sight and out of reach when not in use, but the toy fryer really got me pondering if it’s such a good idea to have kids think of such kitchen items as anything but DANGEROUS! DO NOT TOUCH!
Toy vacuum cleaners that actually work, BTW, are a work of cunning genius.
While their answer might be fair enough, it’s the copy on the website that commits the biggest crime – whether or not they have toys for all, phrases like For the little princess in the family we have great feminine outfits are just appalling. To be as fair as I can, it’s just possible that their biggest mistake was employing a poor copywriter and not briefing him or her properly.
Do excuse me – I don’t know who Gordon is – but I had to laugh at his attempt to garner sympathy for those who “shop without principles”. Seriously, once you know there’s an issue, there is no excuse.
I couldn’t wait for H to be old enough not to ask to go into ELC.. they arent the only place that gender sterotypes but I never liked it. H would play with whatever he wanted to, yes he is a boy and liked to play with cars and we bought him a blue ELC kitchen because thats all we could afford at the time (the very nicely made gender neutral wooden one was just too expensive) .. I never understood why they couldnt make the toys the same colors they are in life.. simple colours red and silver, black and white appliances just like mummy and daddy have.
I got annoyed a few times trying to find a kids cookery set that wasn’t sodding pink.. because H likes to cook and bake with me and with my dad. my mother does not cook (she bakes cookies at christmas but thats that) my Dad grew up in his grandad’s resturant.
for what its worth H would like to be a ninja baggage handler jedi that rides a motorbike and cooks in a diner in America when he grows up. And possibly raise wolves too.
Don’t think you are overreacting at all. I think they have little imagination and a heavy dose of backward thinking. There are far better places to find toys and costumes for children in my experience. Well worth paying a little more to get a better quality of product from a brand who don’t seek to box my children in.
I know I’m not a parent, but I completely agree with you. It’s completely irrevelant that they are providing pink gargages and blue kitchens, it’s the attitude that girls are guided towards different types of things than boys, and also even that pink is for girls and blue is for boys. This store that should be modern and educational has a seriously outdated attitude.
I 100% identify as a feminist and I *hate* that people think of feminist/feminism as a dirty word.
This post is so funny because as I was driving home today, I was wondering if I was going to have to say to people to only buy Blondie Boy gender neutral toys until he is old enough to pick what he wants.
I don’t want him to play with “boys toys” because he is a boy. I want him to play with what he likes and if when he is old enough that is a pink, fluffy fairy wand or a big blue dumptruck, that is HIS choice.
I refuse to make my son submit to gender stereotypes and it infuriates me to see small children do so.
Don’t get me started on the oversexualization of little girls clothing….
As a woman working in London I’m very well aware of the pay gap, especially as I am now looking for part time work. The only consolation for me is that I work in an area where people assume the person doing the job is female (legal secretary) and the few men I know doing the same job are paid exactly the same as the women. Although it does irritate me that when a male legal secretary answers the phone, clients assume he’s actually a solicitor not a legal secretary.
The ELC is my local art supply shop, as well as being nestled inside our local mothercare (my 5yo daughter still wears mothercare clothing because it fits better than the alternative clothing shops). I think that other than a green toy “kitchen” (washing machine oven and toaster all stuck together) I’ve never actually bought a toy there, having sat here thinking about it. I’ve bought her art supplies (stacks of paper, paint, glitter by the barrel load, glue). Oh and bubbles. But our local ELC does suffer because in the same little retail park is a Boots and an M&S which both sell toys. And costumes. I was going to say I bought my 5yo a doctors outfit from ELC but actually I think it was Boots a few years ago.
I think I will just keep up my policy of buying art supplies from them and actual toys from elsewhere.
Oh, and I would not consider myself to be a terribly radical feminist, but more a post modern feminist (defined to me as “A woman who stands up for her rights, but lets gentlemen hold the door for her”).
Hmm I know what you’re saying but Rheya has always had a mixture of both “boy” toys and “girl” toys. We never buy something just because it’s a girlie thing and she’s a girl…but you know at the end of the day, her favourite colour is pink, she loves dressing up like a princess and she loves playing with her toy kitchen (which is red and silver btw, gender neutral) we’ve never imposed a gender onto her, she has a work bench, dinosaurs but she still turned into the girlie girl she is today. She doesn’t go to nursery and she grew up with mainly boy friends so I tend to think it’s just in their genetic make-up to be drawn to certain colours.
From what I’ve seen in ELC you can get the garage in pink as well as blue and the till you’re referring to is the same one Rheya has, but hers is blue (the pink didn’t exist when I bought it) they’re just catering for what they know will sell and although I can’t speak for other little girls, but I know Rheya would always pick the pink version over the blue.
I get very annoyed with retailers’ apparent need to produce a pink and blue version of so many things, and the way that I have to search high and low for girls’ clothing that isn’t >50% pink. Is a wonder that most girls say pink is their favourite colour, when it’s shoved in their faces so intensively from Day 1??
I saw that pink globe today (yes, K dragged me into ELC during a shopping expedition) and was gobsmacked. The normal globe doesn’t have blue oceans for a frigging laugh!! Mentioned it to the staff who were unsurprisingly blasé about the whole thing.
100% agree. I’ve stopped shopping in ELC for that reason. The blurb on the page you link to is awful! Actually, the only time I did shop there recently was to buy a pink tutu for my nephew as he had his heart set on one.
Thanks for the responses everyone! I’m really thrilled to have got people talking about this. I’m going to respond to a few comments here.
Suzie – I totally agree with you on consumer responsibility. I am aware that most – if not all – other toy retailers and manufacturers are playing to gender stereotypes but I’m highlighting the ELC simply because they’re so overt with it. It annoys me that they’re the go-to retail outlet for preschoolers and they’re being so consciously damaging with their gendering of things that really don’t need to be gendered!
Scapey – I think you’re missing my point a little. It’s not simply about pink versus blue, fairies versus dinosaurs, dolls versus trucks. It’s a deeper-rooted concern where the ELC is happy to promote gender stereotypes that ultimately reinforce traditional gender roles on children who don’t themselves understand what gender is. You’re a parent like me – you want both Morgan and Lee to have the opportunity to do anything they want, to have ambition and optimism, yes? My ire is because the ELC have blatantly stated on their site that Morgan (and Erica & Greer) are fine to have passive roles like a fairy or a ballerina – roles that look nice but do nothing – but Lee (and Findlay & Nairn) are allowed to have active roles like being a policeman or spiderman or whatever. There may well be more important things to get in a tizzy about, but I want to be able to raise my daughters to have the same rights and opportunities as my sons and that means targetting this sexism from the earliest stages.
Louiz – I wouldn’t say I’m particularly radical either but my husband may disagree!
Sam – I personally don’t think there’s anything wrong with pink if it’s selected as an open choice, but our daughters don’t have an open choice. Clothing ranges are predominantly pink, toys are predominantly pink and passive for girls or blue and active for boys. I believe it’s wrong to gender segregate.
As a feminist and parent of two boys and a girl, I conciously made a decision to bring them up without barbies and guns. my daughter had very few pink clothes as a baby, but i did go for smocked dresses and jeans/t shirts – a mixture. curiously enough i think there was more of a choice in un-pink clothing 15 years ago when she was born and things were *generally* more equal – my perception is that this was before a general ‘pornification’ of society (ie, before nuts and zoo magazine)and it was easier as a consumer to buy gender neutral clothing and toys. these were the heady days before the invention of the ‘wag’ and clothing retails did not offer t shirts (pink…) with ‘wag in training’ emblazoned upon the front. Also before the ‘playboy’ stationery and clothing range. Of course, despite my efforts, My 15 year old daughter strolls around caked in eyeliner and wearing a skirt so short it makes –me jealous of her legs– i mean ‘my eyes water’. She constantly rolls her eyes and intones ‘it’s not alllll about feminism muummmm’ That’s because a lot of those battles have alreday been fought, but you’re quite right vonnie, there is still a lot of inequality to address.
My middle son has always liked guns, despite not being allowed them pre about 7, when i gave in. My youngest son is the campest wee thing ever, constantly making dresses out of curtains and raiding my fabric stash . I would absolutely buy him a fairy costume, the only reason i would think about it twice is the opinion of the mouthbreathing bookburning locals, so would advise him to confine dress up to the home.
@mockduck “Do excuse me – I don’t know who Gordon is – but I had to laugh at his attempt to garner sympathy for those who “shop without principles”. Seriously, once you know there’s an issue, there is no excuse.”
O RLY? “No excuse”? None? I’ll assume, in that case, that you are more or less completely self sufficient. Or is it the case that you draw the line on your “principles” where it becomes a personal inconvenience? Sure, the pause for thought in a sweet shop is inconvenience enough to give you the sensation of executing an ethical lifestyle but are you really going to alter your behaviour wherever you may be helping to fund dubious practises? Give up supermarkets? Your dealings with most multinational corporations? Are you going to give up your contributions to the oil industry (surely one of the worst industries on Earth from an ethical perspective)? Or do your principles go out the window when it becomes too difficult to honour them?
It’s a long road, and while Gordon may be drawing his line only a few feet into it, in reality almost none of us who like to think of ourselves as socially principled are far enough ahead of him to make any odds.
Of course, I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with making ethical choices. It’s generally a noble thing to do. Just don’t jump on your high horse and accuse others of being unprincipled when you’re negligibly less guilty of selling off your own principles for comfort and convenience. If we were to quantify our contributions to human misery, you’re just as deep in the shit as the rest of us.
Apologies if you really are completely self sufficient, of course.
Regarding the issue at hand…
I’ve noticed recently that a lot of people say that they want to find out the sex of their baby before it’s born because not knowing how to decorate the room/what clothes to buy/etc frustrates them.
It seems bizarre to me. The child’s not going to give a rat’s fat arse how its room’s decorated! Also “people might think she/he is a boy/girl if I dress her/him in blue/pink”. And? So fuck?
It is very odd that these strange and spurious gender-based distinctions and expectations are attributed to such very young children. The doctor/nurse issue is particularly worrying.
Oh yeah, the ELC. Forgot about that bit after all that righteous indignation.
Meh, they’re just playing the field they’ve found themselves on. It might be frustrating, but it’s not rrrrrreeeaaaaalllly their fault. It’s a problem with ordinary attitudes, really.
Although, that response reads like a stock reply so it’s probably not a complaint that’s new to them.
The ELC has been going downhill for years, and since being bought over (Mothercare?) it’s hurtling downhill at a rate of knots. When I worked with children, years ago, the ELC was a watchword for sturdy, well made, educational, non-gender-biased toys, most of which were made of wood. When my no1 (now 10) was born, the toy pushchair they sold was in a neutral blue. I loathe the pinkification (not a word, but I rather like it) of girls’ toys. I do identify myself as a feminist, yes. And I am extremely vocal and stroppy about things like this. Grr.
I just wrote a big comment and Typepad ate it!!!
The jist was that I totally agree with you that the wording on that ELC page is so wrong.There is no need for any gender reference when dealing with dress-up outfits.After all dress-up is make believe and kids can be whoever they want to be! ELC should know better!
I don’t really agree with you on the whole pink for girls and blue for boys thoughts though. My nephews love pink and my girls don’t mind blue.I actually love that there are lots of colours of toys available.It makes the whole plastic toy experience much less invasive. I think the trend towards pink toy kitchen items is only following the trend in grown up homes.How many times do you see pink toasters and fridges in home decorating mags? Loads.Heck I have a pink toaster that hubby happily toasts his bagels in! When my first child was born,15 yrs ago, I found it really hard to find toys that looked good in my home (apart from the expensive wooden toys). Now it’s easy to find something that is the right colour be that pink,blue,purple,green…..
I also never have trouble finding non-pink clothes for my girls. Not that we mind pink (have you seen my daughter’s new pink hair?).There are so many clothing ranges these days that pink is just one of many colours available to girls and boys!
Great post I do love a good discussion.
“If no-one bought the stuff, no-one would stock it.”
I disagree with this. I think there are ppl that buy things because they think if they are there they must have them. Then others who buy because the first lot have got them.
Hate gender stereotyping and colour coding of children’s lives. Thankfully we miss a lot of it by home educating
Came over here from Jax’s …
I stopped shopping in ELC years ago because of this. When my eldest two were little, we had quite a few ELC toys – a purple/orange till, a green tape player, etc. Now as you say, you can have a blue till or a pink till. I think it’s appalling.
My eldest is 13 and the gender stereotyping of clothes and toys has got far worse than when she was a toddler. I find it incredibly depressing.
Does my head in too. And many others – ELC were targetted by the PinkStinks campaign at the end of last year: http://www.pinkstinks.co.uk/campaign.php
Check out their Sainsburys campaign as well.
Hi Vonnie, I am a raging feminazi too and I have one of each. I think the marketing isn’t based on gender stereotyping but based on consumer demand. My little girl, who is younger, inherited all my sons toys and I thought nothing of it until she started pushing the incredible hulk around and playing with him like a baby. All I could hear was her pressing his tummy and ‘you won’t like me if I am angry’ roaring from his shell.’ The menace loves her dolls and shoes, handbags, make up jewellery and that is an innate part of her character that is nature not nurture. ELC is a business and they would have done market analysis which will show that this is the way to communicate to key markets to make the most money. Retail is about money not ideology.
Ps: I walk, talk, live as an equal and then let the discrimination occur and the battle commence. Assume equality, stand up and take it rather than complaining we don’t have it. Make it so.
I get what you are saying exactly and you are right. I used to work at the ELC and yes, there are pink toys for girls and blue versions of the exact same toy for boys. Have to admit my daughter has many of the blue versions but you make an excellent point – they are definitely sterotyping in my opinion. My daughter has grown out of ELC now. At the moment she is into Ben 10 and Horrid Henry so I think I’ve done a good job!
Bravo! I too am enraged by this issue and wish there was a nice and simple solution. I’ve linked to you here http://safasogood.wordpress.com/2010/07/25/gender-nonspecific/. I hope you like it
I liked the subject of this post so much that i forwarded to link to all the people here who make colour choices for products! In my opinion there should either be one nice attractive gender neutral colour for a product or a range of colours to suit all preferences. If a girl wants to play builders she may want a hammer, therefore there should be either one colour of hammer for her and the boy next door or a variety of colours so that if she wanted pink she could have it but there may also be a nice green (my fav colour) that both she and the boy next door both like, which is great as she hates pink.
If you see what im trying to say
I have always hated ELC. Their art materials are plentiful but seem to me to be overpriced, if less so than the toys. My formerly irrational (I thought) hatred has been explained! The princessization/Posh Beckhamization isn’t even being discussed or acknowledged. I don’t want my sons growing up dating princesses or marrying them. I want them to be friends with, fall in love/lust with, women who know and value themselves and want to be something other than someone’s girlfriend or a WAG. My 8 year old’s favorite color is pink, and he takes a lot of stick for wearing it. My five year old has female friends who like to come over and play with his toys that are “just toys, not just for girls,” and that is how we like it.
I’m not massively bothered about the pink vs blue element (my 3yr old nephew’s favourite colour happens to be pink, so it actually works out quite well haha) but I have to admit to doing a comedy sharp intake of breath on reading the bit about the doctors’s outfit. That’s pretty fucking hideous imo, I’d have written a far swearier email to them so kudos on your restraint.
Oh and is it just me or does the link to the page now show different text? Hmmm…
I think the comments on this page are a little bit over-reacted. ELC are a profit based company, they research into what their customers want and they try their best to meet their needs. Thus designing toys to suit the needs of the customer.
As an employee of the company for 9 years, I had countless amount of customers ask me why they could not buy a particular product in a certain colour, i.e a blue kitchen, or a pink till. The customer knows what they want and if it is a pink till, so what??? it is THEIR OPINION AND CHOICE.
also, I had numerous little girls running into the shop and trying to put on the doctors coat, or spiderman outfit. Or they would run over to the garage and play for ages. (on that note, a lot of customer would buy a neutral colour product and not necessarily go for the typical gender colour). Also, little boys would come in and automatically go for the pink trolley or buggy.
It is only a colour, the customer will buy whatever they want to. I WOULDNT SAY IT IS VERY unFAIR TO PINPOINT ELC AS SETTING GENDER STEREOTYPES. BLAME THE PARENT/CUSTOMER.
If you do not agree, shop elsewhere, I am sure your opinions do not even make a dent in the profits made.
YOU LIVE IN A MODERN SOCIETY, KEEP UP WITH THE TIMES AND STOP BEING SUCH A BORE WITH TOO MUCH TIME ON THEIR HANDS