"Mattel and its genderised toys have contributed to gender stereotypes and inequality."

The 'weekly outstanding work' award rewards our community of writers for their contribution to our impact measurement platform.

Find out which article we think is worthy of the award this week and don't forget to make your ratings about the impact this analysis has.

Gender inequality in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) is a key issue as women represent globally less than 30% of researchers and of STEM students¹. For instance, only 5% of math students in high-education are women¹. This is partly due to long-standing gender stereotypes which are causing girls from the age of 5 to limit their self-esteem and perception of self-abilities, also known as the "Dream Gap"².

At Mattel, where its success relies on genderised toys - Barbie dolls for girls and Hotwheels for boys³ - gender equality and hampering gender stereotypes is a major concern. The toy industry, worth USD90 billion in 2019⁴, has been promoting gender stereotypes by increasingly dividing toys by gender for the past 50 years⁵. This gender division of toys has led to the development of different skills by gender, reinforcing, even more, the stereotype that women are not as talented as men in the STEM fields⁶.

Mattel is the first global toy company, with 5 billion in revenue⁷, hence a market share of ~5.6%. It seems that the company has played a considerable part in genderising its toys, dedicating pink to Barbie and its other brand American Girl dolls to girls only, commonly associated with beauty, passivity^6,8. On the contrary, blue Hotwheels and construction games are dedicated to boys and are more associated with courage, adventure, excitement, and reflexion^3,6,8. Although Mattel has launched the "Dream Gap Project" fund, donating USD250,000 to 3 associations⁹, we can wonder to what extent it has created this gap in the first place. Claiming that Barbie dolls can be anything⁹ doesn't make the brand "antithetical" to the Dream Gap, as studies have proven that on the contrary playing with Barbie dolls is making girls believe that there are more career options for men than for them^10;p32.

Mattel still has a long journey ahead if the company wants to stop its toys from promoting gender stereotypes hence gender inequality starting from childhood.

Sources

• 1. https://www.un.org/en/observances/women-and-girls-in-science-day/
• 2. https://science.sciencemag.org/content/355/6323/389
• 3. https://www.forbes.com/sites/shaheenajanjuhajivrajeurope/2019/10/11/challenging-stereotypesthe-power-of-play/?sh=7ca833051c88
• 4. https://www.toyassociation.org/ta/research/data/global/toys/research-and-data/data/global-sales-data.aspx#:~:text=Global%20toy%20sales%20reached%20%2490.7,of%20market%20research%20%26%20data%20strategy.
• 5. https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/12/toys-are-more-divided-by-gender-now-than-they-were-50-years-ago/383556/
• 6. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161130114038.htm
• 7. https://corporate.mattel.com/news/mattel-reports-full-year-and-fourth-quarter-2019-financial-results
• 8. https://www.fastcompany.com/90440851/why-were-going-to-need-more-than-just-gender-neutral-dolls
• 9. https://www.gofundme.com/c/act/barbiedreamgapproject
• 10. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/downloads/kp78gm857&ved=2ahUKEwj7pJbU34LuAhWEzoUKHaI-BcoQFjADegQICRAB&usg=AOvVaw0_HDbCIfdfyuW4HL0VmZox

Make sure you sign-in and make your ratings about the impact described on the planet and society.