A recent study from the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET) reveals that pink toys often bought for little girls are gender-stereotype and are putting them off engineering and technology careers in the future. Parents are warned against buying toys that could discourage their daughters from becoming future technologists and engineers.
The Institute of Engineering and Technology conducted an analysis of trends between toys and children among top retailers and search engines. A total of 360 toy images among the world's top 10 toy dealing websites were used for the study along with top 594 results of the top "toy" in engine searches such as Google, Yahoo! and Bing.
According to the BBC News, about 89 percent of the toys and dolls created for girls are colored pink. Furthermore, only 11 percent of the toys for girls are focused on science, technology or engineering. The numbers are slim when compared to nearly 31 percent of the toys for boys that adapt the mentioned focus.
In a separate research, the Institution found out that primary-aged girls portray high levels of interest in computing, as well as science and mathematics. IET spokeswoman Manta Singhal said that this research result proved that girls clearly show great interest in the fields of science, technology and engineering.
Singhal also believed that parents and the community as a whole should work together to encourage girls to enter into these fields. Unfortunately, pink toys for girls, along with many other gender stereotyping toys are not helping.
According to NYT Live, every little girl's preference for anything colored pink is not innate. In fact, a separate cognitive research strongly suggests that all infants — girls and boys alike — are attracted to the color blue and not the color pink.
Meanwhile, some experts believe color-coding toys for children is merely leading parents to stereotype their children without them noticing and that this should be stopped. But as parents, do you agree with this? Share your thoughts below.
