The increasing gender divide

[amdfangirl]

In a 1970s advertisement for Lego, a small girl holds up a free-form construction, made up of a jumble of different types of bricks and figures. She is wearing a blue T-shirt, a pair of jeans and blue sneakers, and her red hair is plaited. The ad features the caption ''What it is is beautiful'', in a call to parents to harness their children's creativity and expression with the endless potential of one of the world's most popular toys.

This old ad hints at exactly what is alarming about Lego's new ''Friends'' range, which was launched in the UK yesterday and will be launched on January 1 in the US to help Lego capture ''the other 50 per cent of the world's children''.

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/lego-makes-sure-that-boys-will-be-boys-and-girls-will-be-girls-20111226-1paf1.html

Scary thing is I dress just like that kid. And I played with lego (unisex) when I was young lol!

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

The qualities associated with girls' toys, such as nurturing, are generally seen as inferior to the assertiveness of action figures for boys. Cordoning off particular activities, behaviours and ideas to one gender ignores that there is no justification for doing so and limits the potential of both boys and girls to develop their skills and imagination freely.

Earlier
In the 1970s, women entered the work force en masse and the women's liberation movement overthrew the ideal of the pretty, dutiful housewife who encapsulated women's contribution to society

During that time, the ideal of being a housewife was considered being a lessor approach or ideal for life.
It would seem, the very people who started this was somewhat sexist as well, and hadnt fully grown out of their perceived ideals as well.
When youre scoffed at for being a mother, staying at home and taking care of a household and the children as the primary caregiver, it led many women away from such ideas, even those that prefer it.


PS this game wouldnt still be being made if girls didnt want to be girls and boys, boys