A selection of retail giants in the UK have agreed to drop the sexist stereotyping of their products, after receiving pressure from campaign group Let Toys Be Toys.
The group’s spokesperson Megan Perryman says they believe that efforts need to be made to end gender separation in toys.
“Even in 2013, boys and girls are still growing up being told that certain toys are “for” them, while others are not,” she said in a press release.
“This is not only confusing but extremely limiting, as it strongly shapes their ideas about who they are and who they can go on to become.”
Toys “R” Us is the latest company to announce that they will stop labelling toys for each gender, and will display pictures of both girls and boys playing with the same toys in their store.
While the retailer’s outlets in the UK have agreed to no longer use gender-based marketing, the Australian arm of the business has not yet acknowledged the petition.
Other British retailers to stop dividing toys into separate boy and girl sections are Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Boots, the Entertainer and TK Maxx.
What are your views on gender-based toys? Do you think children should be able to choose what they want to play with themselves?
