The Lego Group announced Monday its plans to remove “gender bias and harmful stereotypes” from its products.
“The company is committed to making LEGO play more inclusive and ensuring that children’s creative ambitions – both now in the future – are not limited by gender stereotypes,” Lego said in a Monday statement.
The Danish toy company cited the results of a study it carried out in partnership with Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media that surveyed 7,000 parents and children in seven countries and found “that girls are ready for the world but society isn’t quite ready to support their growth through play,” the statement read.
The LEGO Group hopes its iconic blocks can help build not just trains and houses, but a more inclusive society.
The Danish toy company announced Monday that it will work to remove gender stereotypes from its products and marketing. https://t.co/Rv3luCQ9pD
— NPR (@NPR) October 12, 2021
The study showed that parents were much more likely to encourage their sons to get into “STEM-like activities” than their daughters. The parents were also more inclined to think of scientists, engineers and athletes as men.
Boys, on the other hand, felt much more ashamed to engage in traditionally feminine activities compared to how girls perceived their involvement in stereotypically masculine things, the research found. (RELATED: Hasbro Announces Mr. Potato Head Brand Name Will Drop ‘Mr.’)
“The benefits of creative play such as building confidence, creativity and communication skills are felt by all children and yet we still experience age-old stereotypes that label activities as only being suitable for one specific gender. At the LEGO Group we know we have a role to play in putting this right,” CMO of the LEGO Group Julia Goldin said, according to the statement.
Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law Saturday, requiring the state’s large department stores to display a gender-neutral section for children’s products.
The law was based on a finding that having “boys” and “girls” toy aisles in large retail stores is “stigmatizing.”