Who runs the home and do our childrens toys reflect this?

[DaveCSM]

Hello,

I am currently undertaking my third and final year of study on a Product Design course at Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design.

For my final project I am looking in to how within today's modern family due to many different reasons the responsibilities with running the home are being shared either equally or with a complete role reversal of having the male homemaker and female breadwinner.

However through the toys that our children play with we do not reflect these changes and inadvertently teach our children gender stereotypes. By this I am referring to the toys in the girls department that mimic the home, such as baby dolls or kitchen units, even vacuum cleaners.

I was hoping to use the wealth of knowledge and experiences of this forum to guide me in my research. I would greatly appreciate it if anyone could complete a short survey and perhaps provide any of your own stories with regards to how you run your home and what sort of toys your children play with.

This is my hypothesis:

In todays society the shift of labour within the domestic environment is changing, yet though toys we still reinforce gender stereotypes upon our children. How can product design assist in changing these attitudes?

And here is my survey:

www.surveymonkey.com/s/QQJZ59V

I thank you all very much for your time.

Bit out of date I'm afraid, in Tesco you will find Black and Decker play kitchen (grey black and yellow) right next to Hello Kitty play kitchen (pink-obviously), Hello Kitty iron and ironing board next to tesco own blue versions, girl commando characters alongside male army characters, survival packs(pretend fire-starting kits) in neutral colours with girls predominantly displayed on packaging, as with pink power tools, blue and yellow hoovers, multi-coloured lawn-mowers etc etc, oh and long thread on hear recently regarding blue prams and boy dolls.
Product design already bridges the gender gap.

Thank you for your response.

I have done extensive research in to existing children's toys currently on the market from a variety of different stores, large Toys 'R' Us, Hamleys, Supermarkets, Argos. I have even looked in to toys through the ages and am still finding that the toys that are an adaption of domestic life are kept in the girls section.

My project is not necessarily about bridging the gender gap or creating gender neutral toys, but how through the toys that children play with and role playing it can inadvertently teach them their specific roles later in life.

That is why I am asking parents about their roles within the home and how they feel about these toys, and whether they feel anything about a child playing with a toy not specifically for their gender.

Take a boy owning/playing with a toy vacuum cleaner. It is sold in the girls section but is very gender neutral - not a problem to play with. However would it still be the same reaction to find the boy playing with a baby doll? Do mothers react differently to fathers. It's all about gaining insights and hopefully in my own small way helping.

Cat64 - I apologise for not giving an option to say if you work or not. I can only ask 10 questions and although I did intend to include that, I had to take it out in favour of other questions. Perhaps in a later survey I will include it.

To explain how my project came about in greater detail I should perhaps explain. I read an article during the summer about how due to the recession men are finding themselves out of work, whereas their partners are not. This has created a shift in the home where men are now forced to take on the role of the 'homemaker' whilst woman go out to work.

Upon taking this as a starting point I observed men in the home and their behaviors relating to housework. I found a different approach to that of woman, taking on a very masculine approach.

Being in that family environment I noticed the children too in the way that they played and what they played with. A girl taking care of a baby doll and a boy obsessed with how fast his toy cars could go. This then lead me to read about childhood development between the genders and examine what is on the market, which helped me construct my hypothesis.

I am not saying I am right, but it is a hypothesis which I will either prove or disprove. That is why I am here on a parenting forum asking for your views and insights as apart of my research.

I am a sahm and my husband works,my children are dd1-2 dd2-3 ds-9. Now when my son was younger (at this point we lived alone) he had a kitchen,doll and pram and a washing machine(he was obsessed by the washing machine and put everything in it from his own underwear to the dogs ball).
My 2 daughters play with anything their own "girly" toys and also their brothers cars etc which I allow them all to express themselves freely and play as they will although I do not allow my children to play with toy guns,knives but that is another post.
Now thinking about it when my husband is home their play tends to be a lot different and a little more boisterous.I was away for a while not long ago and my husband got them playing with the wooden building blocks they have and having them construct towers.

Got me thinking this post now because as my dd are so young and have got quite a lot of role play toys I often catch my son playing with the girls and sometimes their toys on his own which is no problem but my dh often teases him about it, is a bit ironic seen as my DH often does the washing up and other household chores.x