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Questioning the Status Quo Is Essential for Driving Meaningful Change

Jodi Bondi Norgaard, entrepreneur and author, offers insights on igniting critical thinking and fostering innovation to drive meaningful change and advance gender equality.

In 2009 I started a toy company to fix a toy problem. As an entrepreneur frustrated by the lack of diverse options for girls — especially in a market saturated with seventy-five brands of fashion dolls — I sought to shake up the toy industry. My solution was a sports-themed doll to break gender stereotypes. What soon became abundantly clear was that this “toy problem” grew up with kids and followed them into adulthood. When limited toy-options stifle a child’s imagination about what they can do or become, it’s not only bad for child development, it’s also bad for society. The “grown up” problem of gender equality begins with child’s play.

And yet, the toy industry remains stuck in gender stereotypes. In 2022 I helped commission a study for the Toy Foundation, the philanthropic arm of The Toy Association, a business trade group, with the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, on whether gender norms are reinforced in toys and toy advertising and marketing. The 33-page report reinforced what I already knew: blatant gender stereotyping exists.

In an experiment with ChatGPT, I asked the AI program to generate a toy for girls, which resulted in an elaborate pink playhouse. Nice enough. I suspect little girls would happily play along. But when I asked for a toy for boys, the result was an entire town: houses, businesses, schools — a whole world beyond a home. AI generated queries — much like the real toy market — offer toys designed for girls that revolve around crafting and storytelling — think beads, fabric, and accessories — that aim to teach fine motor skills, patience, and creativity. Conversely, toys designed for boys emphasize exploration and problem-solving: construction sets that combine building with adventure, world-building using blocks, action figures, and tools, which fosters skills in engineering, spatial reasoning, and mechanics.

This particular result makes clear the entrenched and unconscious biases that persist regarding gender roles. There is a thru-line when creative play is limited to “toys for girls” or “toys for boys,” to workforce composition and strength of our economy, when fewer females pursue STEM or leadership positions and males disregard more nurturing careers like teaching and nursing. And what of the harm that might build over a woman’s lifetime — from career advancement to equal pay and sexism to violence. People think, “It’s just a toy,” dismissing the impact that builds one toy at a time.

Despite nearly 200 years of women fighting for equality, the 2022 Global Gender Gap Report from the World Economic Forum indicates we still have 130 years of work ahead. Alarmingly, the United Nations’ 2023 report shows a regression in gender equality. I think we could put gender equality on a fast track if we worked harder at solving the problem when it starts, which is when a child is old enough to hold a toy, a book, or a screen. Let’s ensure they reflect a world where every child can envision their full potential, paving the way to achieve gender equality.

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