Gender Roles In Childhood Toys

Gendered Toys
Gender roles are shaped into a child’s life at a young age, beginning with toys. There are a variety of different types of toys that provided at the stores for kids to play with. My research is to observe and take note of the toys that are merchandised at the store of my choice and to view if the toys are organized as gendered or gender neutral. I also took note of who was there, what toys they were interested in, and with whom they were shopping with. This project helped my realization of how society shapes gender roles for kids at the start of birth and the perception that kids carry on with them as they grow older. The store I chose to make my observations at was Target in Rosemead, around noon on Monday, February 9, 2015. I was there for about an hour because I was running errands and making my observations for this project. I did not have a pen or paper on me, so I took
The boys section mainly had action figures, racing cars with the tracks, capes. The boys section also had a blue signs and no pink color whatsoever. The packaging was also the same colors the same colors and the action figures revolved around super heroes and monsters. The girls section was most pink, yellow, and red colors and the packaging was the same colors. The girls section had barbies, dolls, pretend babies with strollers, cooking and baking sets such as easy bake, princess dolls and costumes, wands, makeup, and jewelry sets to make different sorts of jewelry. Along another aisle were puzzled and different sets of bikes which were organized as gender neutral. With all the bikes on one side, the pink and purple bikes had streamers hanging from the handle bars, and the other bikes such as the blue and black did not have streamers. In the same section, there were electric cars. Some of them were pink and it was the brand Barbie. The other cars were brand named cars such as Hummer, BMW, or Range