To think that the ELC should realise that some nurses are male. And some doctors are female. And some men dance ballet. And some women engage in piracy on the high seas. Etc.

[missedith01]

"For the little princess in the family we have great feminine outfits like Butterfly Fairy, Sleeping Beauty, Ballerina and Nurse?s uniform. Why not add a medical case for that extra touch of authenticity.

The boys are catered for too, with great Doctor, Policeman & Fireman uniforms, not to mention fantastic Pirate and Knight costumes. All these can be combined with a range of accessories so your child will really look the part."

www.elc.co.uk/children%27s-dressing-up-outfits/5540,default,sc.html

I can't see it mentioned here, but have mainly skim read so apologies if I missed it but Marks and Spencer are guilty of similar gender related offences!

Under the younger boys' section is a "Younger Boys' Doctor Outfit" which states "He'll have fun dressing up in this 5-piece doctor costume. "

see here

I wrote a letter to them last week mentioning that there are more female medical students than male etc... etc... so why the gender stereotyping???, no reply as yet.

Cannot begin to express coherently just how horrified I am by the pink globe...

Regularly shop in ELC because local options are limited but am disappointed by the pink/blue divide. End up buying DS things mostly in blue because the pink versions are horrid but at least the things I'm buying him are the teaset, pushchair and housey things

ZDB, thanks for the updated info - pleased to hear some progress is being made.

Sunny, I'm glad you posted that, and that your nursery doesn't mind. I think it's sad how many people act as if girls wearing trousers is normal, but boys wanting to wear skirts means there's something wrong with them.

I agree with everyone who thinks it's shocking that ELC have sold out to gender stereotyping but am interested in what sunny says. My sons both pestered against gender type. My son who now plays footie, cricket and warhammer and is a very boyish boy spent his entire third year begging for an ELC pink and purple fairy set with wings for his birthday, got one and wore it non stop for months with few comments from anyone except 'how cute.'

Our ELC goes as far as to divide things up like this: on the left of the shop, section for 'girl's outfits (fairy, nurse etc) with the dolls and the home-making stuff, so hoovers, washing machines, cookers, irons etc. Meh.

The boys section is over the other side, with a shelf for outfits (cowboys, pirates drs, fireman policeman etc) and all the action and adventure toys.

I am absolutely horrified by this, as I think it gives children the message that the toys for the opposite gender are not 'meant' for them. My DS has had a washing machine, a buggy and baby and various other toys from the girls section. I think it is important that he knows he can play with whatever he wants. It is part of encouraging their imagination and creativity and letting them be who they want to be.

Personally, I can't see why they don't have a section called 'dressing up' and have everything together so that children can choose what they want without this ridiculous dictat that implies that girls only want to be fairies and boys pirates. I doubt nurseries have separate dressing up boxes, and I know many young boys who enjoy being fairies, and may girls who want to be pirates or superheroes. Let's give them the choice without dictating that they 'ought' to stick to what girls should do as this is where the sterotyping comes from. The 'because that's what the customer wants' line is such a cop-out.

I asked my DS (4) and DD (3) what their favourite colours are and they both without prompting went for the blue/pink option.

DS says his sister loves flowers and butterflys and she says he loves cars/fixing things... how can I argue with that, when I have not decided what they like, they choose these things themselves.

BUT they do quite happily play with each others toys, its quite a common site to see DD dressed up as Bob the Builder, and to find DS playing with his sisters pink dolls house! The do the pretend tea party together.

In the end does this all really matter?!?!?!

Its all about choice isn't it - yep you can buy only pink LEGO from their website and shop, but we never had that sort of stuff when I was growing up, and I don't feel 'scarred for life' because my lego or mechano was not pink! , and if someone can afford to waste time/money buying that sort of stuff to fill the pockets of the retailers, then good luck to them.

Yes, angels3, I'm sure they did.

Personally, if a girl wants to like pink and princesses and a boy wants to like blue and trains thats fine and I think children should be encouraged with whatever they are interested in, but what does matter is that retailers and TV makers are reinforce gender sterotyping to the ridiculous levels where we have a pink globe on sale rather than one that shows the true colours of the world. Why would you make something pink that isn't?

I'm not advocating that children should be brought up to shun princess outfits/cars etc, just that a little commonsense is used and that this ridiculous 'every toy a girl owns must be pink' trend is stopped. It is, after all, a money-making exercise:

'Oh, let's get out Jenny's old toys now Fred's getting big. Goodness! I'd forgotten we have a pink till/washing machine/globe. He can't possibly have those, we'd better go and buy some nice blue ones for him...'

The best dressing up box is one put together from old scarfs, bags, hats, jewellery, feathers, bits of material, discarded outfits and homemade costumes and dressing up clothes for both boys and girls and then just let them develop their imaginations without adult interference.

a couple of years ago I met a lady in a park who kept staring at me; she finally asked "are you J.D's.auntie?" I replied "yes I was" to which she replied "Oh only the other day my Daughter said, Do you remember how I used to go to play with J.D. and the wonderful dressing up box they had?" The children concerned were now in their late twenties and still had fond memories of that dressing up box! none of the things in it were brought in a shop but the children who played with it had great fun and were allowed to be whatever they wanted to be.

If you dont like what's in the shop dont buy it.

My local ELC stocks pink versions of almost everything and rarely stocks a different colour option. Now, while I wouldn't mind my son having pink toys, I just can't stand the garish colours, and it annoys me that if I want to buy something that isn't pink, it has to be a car or a dinosaur - clearly boys aren't allowed to do gardening, roleplaying or creative play in my town!

Buzz, it sounds like your local ELC may just be out of stock of the different colours from the sounds of it! Doesnt the gardening stuff come in choice of pink or green and red? DS has the red and green lawnmower and a pink broom, he loves to help tidy the garden.
My DS is desperate for the vets dressing up outfit from ELC, he'd probably like the pink version too

oooooh this pisses me off - particularly the nurses vs doctors thing which is so stupid considering that numbers of females overtook males in undergraduate medical entry a good few years ago now. I try not to buy from ELC unless I have to and then only buy the unisex colours.

What really annoyed me was trying to find a non-pink dolls house for my 2 boys (well done Toys R Us - much better on the gender front). Ds1 when about 3 was really into Goldilocks and the 3 bears - there was a lovely wooden set in ELC which I got for him for the house - even though was predominantly pink - why do ELC think only girls like fairy tales!!

thederkinsdame - do you know what - if it bothers you that much, perhaps you don't take your kids in with you, and you only buy toys that are the proper colour then you don't have that problem - the only other way is for people to not buy toys that seem to be incorrectly coloured pink - the globe for example, and then perhaps the retailers will get the picture and stop making them?!

But... it is after all the parents that buy this stuff, not the children.... don't get me wrong, I will not buy incorrectly coloured things, like a pink till for the shop, or globe as I do think that is wrong, but surely its not the childs fault that they are being sterotyped? The parents are the ones who have the power, not the child or the retailer.

thanks Beveridge...

OMG I have just seen the pink globe - it is without a doubt the most ridiculous looking thing I have seen in a long time. It is next to the normal one (NOT a particularly boy one) with the see blue, countries the usual colours, arctic and antarctic white etc - then you look over the the pink one with pink seas FFS!! How utterly ridiculous - who would buy that??? Who thought it was necessary to make an alternative colour one??