He Said, She Said: Should toys be gender neutral?

Toys will be toys, but should toys should be gender neutral?

According to 2GB Breakfast host Ben Fordham, they're already gender neutral.

"Toys are already absolutely 100 per cent gender neutral. They can be used by boys and they can be used by girls," he says.

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"And if you need any evidence of this, just have a look inside any household, anywhere around the world, and you will see boys and girls playing with the same toys. I don't think there are any rules anywhere saying that there are only some toys for boys and some toys for girls."

Well, that's where marketing and parental bias comes into it.

According to a 2018 study in gender roles, parents have a huge influence over the toys their kids play with. At five months old, babies don't understand gender, but by a child's first birthday, boys opted for trucks, while girls still had no clear preference.

Psychologist Judith Elaine Blakemore says the study found, "Girls' toys were associated with physical attractiveness, nurturing, and domestic skill, whereas boys' toys were rated as violent, competitive, exciting, and somewhat dangerous."

But educational toys tended to be gender neutral.

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"The toys rated as most likely to be educational and to develop children's physical, cognitive, artistic, and other skills were typically categorised as neutral or moderately masculine," she adds.

Ben says in his household it's more equal, "My son will play with dolls. My daughter will play with footballs. So if they're the traditional boys' toys or girls' toys that's okay."

He says there is one surefire way to break down the gender bias in toys.

"If their brother or their sister's playing with a particular toy, then that's the toy they want to play with it too. So that's where the gender wall falls down immediately," he says. 

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