The economic cost of gendered toys

[DanaC]

It's some time since I had cause to be looking at or buying toys, so I wondered how bad things had actually got?

Looking at the Argos catalogue shop toy section, I noticed a few things. Firstly, that shop is being very careful not to segregate their toys along gender lines. Of the various drop down menus to help select toys, there are price and age options, but not gender selection. This is good.

I went looking at the sciencey type toys. Interesting. Some manufacturers have taken on board the potential damage of always showing a boy on the box, playing with their science sets. So, most of those manufacturers have elected simply not to show a child on the box at all. Some show boys playing with active looking sciencey type stuff (including radio controlled toys and spy kits) one shows a girl and a boy on the box.

But one manufacturer is still going all out to show which of their science sets are for girls and which are for boys. You can tell, very easily and quickly. Because Wild Science makes kits for boys, with boys on the front, and a blue background, and they make kits for girls, showing girls on the front and a pink background.

So, what do the boys science sets allow them to do and/or discover?

Well here we go. They get to do things like this:

Discover the exciting and explosive science behind the world's volcanoes with the Wild Science Erupting Volcano Crater Factory.

Create flowing lava, bubbling mineral springs, volcanic bombs and colour morphing pools.

Use the equipment and ingredients provided along with the colour illustrated instruction manual to learn about the different types of volcanic eruption whilst having fun.

Your own volcanic island on which to base your experiments is also included.

This Wild Science kit supports many aspects of the UK science curriculum, including scientific enquiry and investigative skills.

And this:

Make colourful super-bouncy balls and an amazing hyperlauncher rocket with the Wild Science Hyperlauncher Rocket Ball Factory!

Discover bouncy ball-istics with this fun product

Make cosmic ray launchers and supersonic bouncers

Learn about the science of elasticity, polymers, energy and motion with this fascinating Rocketball science kit

What about the girls then? What do they get in their Wild Science kits?

Well, they get to:

Discover the science of soap while you make super soap shapes, including fragrant flowers and fabulous fairies with the Wild Science Luxury Soap Science Kit!

Create multi-coloured creatures and flowers that float in transparent bars.

Blend colours and perfumes for your own signature soap

The kit contains enough material for the many amazing soap projects and sculptures in the booklet

Or they can:

Create your own luxurious frothy bath bombs with the Wild Science Bath Bomb Factory! Loads of fascinating fizzy activities!

Experiment with all the ingredients and make your own scented Bath Bombs, Phunny Phoam, Magic Tricks and much, much more!

Also teaches you the science behind "fizz" and the changes that occur when materials are mixed

And finally, to complete the trifuckta, they can:

Mix, shake and blend your own heavenly scents with the Wild Science Perfume Laboratory! Create your very own signature perfumes, scented crystals, smell gel, pot pourri, scented paper and many more absorbing aromatic activities in your own perfume laboratory. A great gift which will bring hours of fun.

Please do note that out of the three kits for girls, only one of the dscriptions includes any sense of what 'science' this will actually help them learn, and then it seems something of a throwaway line compared to the two kits for boys.