In a move that’s becoming more common in our enlightened times, Lego brand has made a pledge to remove gender bias from its product line.
The company commissioned a study that found that girls are hindered by "unequal and restrictive" attitudes towards creativity and play, according to CNN.
The Dutch-based company announced on Monday that it has committed to ensuring that its product line and marketing are "free of gender bias and harmful stereotypes." The announcement was tied to the UN's “International Day of The Girl.”
The study, which included 7,000 children and parents in seven countries, found that 76% of parents would encourage their sons to play with Lego bricks, while just 24% would do so with their daughters.
The report also found that “parents were almost five times more likely to encourage girls to play dress-up than boys, and around four times more likely to encourage girls to dance or cook and bake.” Parents were far more likely to encourage boys to play coding games or partake in sports.
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"The benefits of creative play such as building confidence, creativity, and communication skills are felt by all children,” said Julia Goldmin, Lego Group's chief marketing officer, “and yet we still experience age-old stereotypes that label activities as only being suitable for one specific gender.”
Considering this study was commissioned by a toy company, it’s findings further displayed intriguing conclusions that could be conveyable to a wide swath of society.
For example, researchers found that most parents imagined a man when asked to think about various professions, regardless of whether they had a daughter or not. The gender bias was most pronounced when it came to professions like engineering, which 89% of parents pictured as more of a man's job. They were also over five times more likely to think of athletes and scientists as men.
The study was conducted on Lego's behalf by actress Geena Davis' eponymous research institute.
Not long ago, LEGO had been accused of reinforcing gender stereotypes, but have recently been increasingly responsive to gender-bias criticisms -- most notably with the rainbow-colored “Everyone is Awesome” set introduced last May.
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“We know we have a role to play in putting this right,” admits Goldmin, “and this campaign is one of several initiatives we are putting in place to raise awareness of the issue and ensure we make Lego play as inclusive as possible."
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