essays on gender toys

How toys became gendered – and why it’ll take more than a gender-neutral doll to change how boys perceive femininity

Assistant Professor of Human Development and Family Studies, Michigan State University

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Parents who want to raise their children in a gender-nonconforming way have a new stocking stuffer this year: the gender-neutral doll.

Announced in September, Mattel’s new line of gender-neutral humanoid dolls don’t clearly identify as either a boy or a girl. The dolls come with a variety of wardrobe options and can be dressed in varying lengths of hair and clothing styles.

But can a doll – or the growing list of other gender-neutral toys – really change the way we think about gender?

Mattel says it’s responding to research that shows “kids don’t want their toys dictated by gender norms.” Given the results of a recent study reporting that 24% of U.S. adolescents have a nontraditional sexual orientation or gender identity, such as bisexual or nonbinary, the decision makes business sense.

As a developmental psychologist who researches gender and sexual socialization, I can tell you that it also makes scientific sense. Gender is an identity and is not based on someone’s biological sex. That’s why I believe it’s great news that some dolls will better reflect how children see themselves.

Unfortunately, a doll alone is not going to overturn decades of socialization that have led us to believe that boys wear blue, have short hair and play with trucks; whereas girls like pink, grow their hair long and play with dolls. More to the point, it’s not going to change how boys are taught that masculinity is good and femininity is something less – a view that my research shows is associated with sexual violence.

Pink girls and blue boys

The kinds of toys American children play with tend to adhere to a clear gender binary.

Toys marketed to boys tend to be more aggressive and involve action and excitement. Girl toys, on the other hand, are usually pink and passive, emphasizing beauty and nurturing.

It wasn’t always like this.

Around the turn of the 20th century, toys were rarely marketed to different genders. By the 1940s, manufacturers quickly caught on to the idea that wealthier families would buy an entire new set of clothing, toys and other gadgets if the products were marketed differently for both genders. And so the idea of pink for girls and blue for boys was born.

Today, gendered toy marketing in the U.S. is stark. Walk down any toy aisle and you can clearly see who the audience is. The girl aisle is almost exclusively pink, showcasing mostly Barbie dolls and princesses. The boy aisle is mostly blue and features trucks and superheroes.

Breaking down the binary

The emergence of a gender-neutral doll is a sign of how this binary of boys and girls is beginning to break down – at least when it comes to girls.

A 2017 study showed that more than three-quarters of those surveyed said it was a good thing for parents to encourage young girls to play with toys or do activities “associated with the opposite gender.” The share rises to 80% for women and millennials.

But when it came to boys, support dropped significantly, with 64% overall – and far fewer men – saying it was good to encourage them to do things associated with girls. Those who were older or more conservative were even more likely to think it wasn’t a good idea.

Reading between the lines suggests there’s a view that traits stereotypically associated with men – such as strength, courage and leadership – are good, whereas those tied to femininity – such as vulnerability, emotion and caring – are bad. Thus boys receive the message that wanting to look up to girls is not OK .

And many boys are taught over and over throughout their lives that exhibiting “female traits” is wrong and means they aren’t “real men.” Worse, they’re frequently punished for it – while exhibiting masculine traits like aggression are often rewarded.

How this affects sexual expectations

This gender socialization continues into emerging adulthood and affects men’s romantic and sexual expectations.

For example, a 2015 study I conducted with three co-authors explored how participants felt their gender affected their sexual experiences. Roughly 45% of women said they expected to experience some kind of sexual violence just because they are women; whereas none of the men reported a fear of sexual violence and 35% said their manhood meant they should expect pleasure.

And these findings can be linked back to the kinds of toys we play with. Girls are taught to be passive and strive for beauty by playing with princesses and putting on makeup. Boys are encouraged to be more active or even aggressive with trucks, toys guns and action figures; building, fighting and even dominating are emphasized. A recent analysis of Lego sets demonstrates this dichotomy in what they emphasize for boys – building expertise and skilled professions – compared with girls – caring for others, socializing and being pretty. Thus, girls spend their childhoods practicing how to be pretty and care for another person, while boys practice getting what they want.

This results in a sexual double standard in which men are the powerful actors and women are subordinate. And even in cases of sexual assault, research has shown people will put more blame on a female rape victim if she does something that violates a traditional gender role, such as cheating on her husband – which is more accepted for men than for women.

A 2016 study found that adolescent men who subscribe to traditional masculine gender norms are more likely to engage in dating violence, such as sexual assault, physical or emotional abuse and stalking.

Teaching gender tolerance

Mattel’s gender-neutral dolls offer much-needed variety in kids’ toys, but children – as well as adults – also need to learn more tolerance of how others express gender differently than they do. And boys in particular need support in appreciating and practicing more traditional feminine traits, like communicating emotion or caring for someone else – skills that are required for any healthy relationship.

Gender neutrality represents the absence of gender – not the tolerance of different gender expression. If we emphasize only the former, I believe femininity and the people who express it will remain devalued.

So consider doing something gender-nonconforming with your children’s existing dolls, such as having Barbie win a wrestling championship or giving Ken a tutu. And encourage the boys in your life to play with them too.

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What the Research Says: Gender-Typed Toys

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What makes a good toy for a young child? NAEYC asked two researchers about what their work tells us about toys, children, and play.

Judith Elaine Blakemore is professor of psychology and associate dean of Arts and Sciences for Faculty Development at Indiana University−Purdue University in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Her primary research interest is the development of gender roles. We also spoke to Jeffrey Trawick-Smith, professor at Eastern Connecticut State University in Willimantic, Connecticut, about  the impact of specific toys on play .  

Tell us about your toy research.

Professor Blakemore : We identified more than 100 toys and classified them to indicate how much each toy was associated with boys, girls, or neither.

In general the toys most associated with boys were related to fighting or aggression (wrestlers, soldiers, guns, etc.), and the toys most associated with girls were related to appearance (Barbie dolls and accessories, ballerina costumes, makeup, jewelry, etc.).

We then divided the toys into six categories, based on these ratings: (1) strongly feminine, (2) moderately feminine, (3) neutral, (5) moderately masculine, and (6) strongly masculine. Toys were then rated according to their characteristics, such as able to be manipulated, exciting, educational, aggressive, musical, etc.

We found that girls’ toys were associated with physical attractiveness, nurturing, and domestic skill, whereas boys’ toys were rated as violent, competitive, exciting, and somewhat dangerous. The toys rated as most likely to be educational and to develop children’s physical, cognitive, artistic, and other skills were typically categorized as neutral or moderately masculine. We concluded that strongly gender-typed toys appear to be less supportive of optimal development than neutral or moderately gender-typed toys.

What message do you think early childhood teachers and other educators could take from your research?

Professor Blakemore : If you want to develop children's physical, cognitive, academic, musical, and artistic skills, toys that are not strongly gender-typed are more likely to do this.  

What message about toys do you think families of young children could take from your research?

Professor Blakemore : For parents, it’s the same message as for teachers: Strongly gender-typed toys might encourage attributes that aren’t ones you actually want to foster. For girls, this would include a focus on attractiveness and appearance, perhaps leading to a message that this is the most important thing—to look pretty. For boys, the emphasis on violence and aggression (weapons, fighting, and aggression) might be less than desirable in the long run.

Also, moderately masculine toys have many positive qualities (spatial skills, science, building things, etc.) that parents might want to encourage in both boys and girls. Perhaps, to some extent, it is the same for some moderately feminine toys (nurturance, care for infants, developing skills in cooking and housework).

What's the most surprising thing you think your research tells us about children, toys, and play?

Professor Blakemore : I am not sure how surprising this is to me but it might be to parents: Moderately masculine toys encourage children's physical, cognitive, academic, musical, and artistic skills more so than moderately feminine ones.

Home — Essay Samples — Sociology — Gender Stereotypes — Gender Stereotypes Of Girls Toys

Gender Stereotypes of Girls Toys

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Sparkle Unicorns And Fart Ninjas: What Parents Can Do About Gendered Toys

Anya Kamenetz

Cory Turner

With Rainbow Butterfly Unicorn Kitty on one side and bulbous-headed Fart Ninjas on the other, the gender divide was impossible to avoid at the North American International Toy Fair in New York City back in February.

The light-up Barbie mermaids vying for space with Gatling-style foam-dart blasters in Manhattan's Javits Center raised a question: Have toys really progressed since our grandparents' days? And how do the toys we play with shape the people we grow up to be?

Parenting: Difficult Conversations

The problem with toy guns and princesses.

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Toys are getting more gendered

Researcher Elizabeth Sweet studied toy catalogs and ads over time and found that toys are actually more gender divided than they were half a century ago.

Rebecca Hains, a professor at Salem State University in Massachusetts, has written a book about it: The Princess Problem : Guiding Our Girls Through The Princess-Obsessed Years.

Disney characters, she points out, used to be more diverse: There was Cinderella, sure, but also Pinocchio and Bambi. When 1989's The Little Mermaid made a splash, Hains says, "Disney realized profitability in girls." Enter the juggernaut Disney Princess brand. Plus, marketers now cloak even gender-neutral toys like blocks in both primary and pastel shades in the hope of selling more sets.

A unicorn and her accessories at the North American International Toy Fair in New York in February. Diane Bondareff/AP hide caption

A unicorn and her accessories at the North American International Toy Fair in New York in February.

Even with several women vying to be the United States' next president, and even with a greater awareness of the spectrum of gender identity than we've ever had in our culture, Hains says, "it's almost like kids are subject to stereotypes that we've evolved out of elsewhere."

And these stereotypes can stick.

In a 2013 study of undergraduate women, one-third identified themselves as "princesses." They placed a higher value on the physical attractiveness of a mate, were less likely to want to join the workforce after college and were more likely to say they wanted to marry a breadwinner. And when all the women were given puzzles to solve, the "princesses" quit faster.

(This study, a conference paper, is described and cited in this paper , co-authored by Sarah Coyne, which similarly showed that girls who preferred playing princesses showed more gender-stereotyped behavior a full year later.)

Researchers haven't proved that all little girls who like tutus will grow up to be entitled quitters. But play does prepare children for life, so boys and girls both need broad options, says Rosemarie Truglio, a developmental psychologist and vice president of education and research for Sesame Workshop.

"It's OK for me to like pink things and pretty things and frilly things, but it shouldn't define who I am and shouldn't define what I will be in the future," Truglio says. "Anyone who is singly defined doesn't make a really interesting person."

Here are our takeaways for how to handle toy problems.

1. Bans will backfire — no pun intended.

Fart Ninjas wore their primary colors to the toy fair in New York. Andrew Kelly/AP hide caption

Fart Ninjas wore their primary colors to the toy fair in New York.

You can certainly outlaw a toy that makes you uncomfortable, but consider this:

"I don't think banning anything is the answer," Truglio says. She found this out the hard way as a mom herself. At first "we had the rule: No [toy] guns in our home," she says. But she realized that all her young son's friends were playing with them, typically in the hallway of their apartment building.

Group play and the friendship that comes with it are so important for kids, Truglio believes, that she decided to allow the toy gun, with conditions. Besides, if you say no, the odds are that the toy will become even more coveted, she says.

2. How they play is more important than what they play with.

No toy is inherently good or wicked, says Lisa Dinella, a gender studies professor at Monmouth University and co-author of the aforementioned 2013 princess study. With a gun, "you can be really, really aggressive, or you can just be shooting targets." Equally, a princess game could be all about being pretty, or it could have a sophisticated plot.

One red flag, Truglio says, is when there's no variety to a child's play. For example, if your child wants to play with only toy guns, and the play is always aggressive, then that could be a sign for you, as a parent, to step in and find out what's really troubling the child.

3. Parents can counter sexist messages.

Dinella says kids start learning gender stereotypes before they're out of diapers. "Between 18 months and 2 years is the first time we're starting to see their awareness."

They learn by watching us. Studies show that parents perceive newborn girls as more delicate and newborn boys as being stronger. On the playground, mothers intervene with girls , seeing physical risks, more often.

"So it's really hard to separate out toy preference from gender socialization that is so insidious," Hains says.

Boppi the Booty Shakin' Llama, from Zuru's Pets Alive line, combines llamas and butts, two top trends at the North American International Toy Fair. Stuart Ramson/AP hide caption

Boppi the Booty Shakin' Llama, from Zuru's Pets Alive line, combines llamas and butts, two top trends at the North American International Toy Fair.

Dinella has done several experiments on how heavy gender branding influences kids' toy choices. In one, she and her team painted a bunch of toys white. Without color cues, both boys and girls gravitated toward neutral playthings like Play-Doh and the Etch A Sketch.

In another experiment, titled "Pink Gives Girls Permission," Dinella and her co-authors flipped the traditional color patterns: pink trucks and camouflage-clad baby dolls. She found that "there's a bigger barrier to boys playing with girl things and acting like girls than for girls to be able to venture into some of these cross-gender plays."

Dinella says you can see this inequity in how hard our culture still comes down on the little boys who love princesses and sparkly things.

This is too bad, she says, because toys can teach important and sometimes unexpected skills. Dolls prepare boys for future roles as fathers and help them practice empathy. Acting out a tea party can help children learn "cognitive sequencing of events: the beginning, the middle and the end of a task." In other words, a tea set can introduce one of the foundations of computer coding.

So Dinella suggests that, when toy shopping, strive for gender balanced as well as gender neutral. Try saying something like, "You have four dolls already, so how about ... also getting a truck?"

Or, "Can we get it in the white version so that all of the kids, when they come to our house, can play with it, instead of just the pink version?"

4. Talk to your kids directly, and share your values around toys.

A girl dressed as a mermaid worked the runway at a fashion show at the toy show. Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

A girl dressed as a mermaid worked the runway at a fashion show at the toy show.

Dinella is also a mother, and she didn't ban toy guns either. But she does let her children know that she's not wild about them. "I'm never going to say, 'Hey, we haven't played with the Nerf guns a lot lately! Let's get those out!' "

In other cases, she says, you can be more direct. "You can say, 'This dress-up toy that was given to you, although it's really sparkly ... it does really talk to you about being pretty. And I would rather you spend time trying to get smart."

5: Join in your child's play to further expand the possibilities.

If a foam-dart shootout is getting out of hand, ordering the combatants to timeout isn't all that effective, says Truglio. Instead, "maybe you take on a character role ... who is going to stop this type of aggression."

Hains tells the story of a father who played princesses with his daughter — but would get out the firetruck and send the princesses out on rescue missions.

The good news is that we may be getting a little more help these days from pop culture. Characters like the powerful Elsa, the adventurous Moana, Wonder Woman and the new Captain Marvel, played by Brie Larson, are pushing the envelope for female heroines.

Another of Dinella's studies suggests that they are having an impact. She asked preschoolers — both boys and girls — to describe themselves and also to describe what they knew about princesses. Not surprisingly, they described princesses as the typical girly girl who needs to be rescued.

Researchers then showed the children video clips of more recent princesses, like Merida from Brave, taking action and being powerful. Then they asked the same questions again.

Watching those images changed the children's perceptions of princesses, and, Dinella says, it changed kids' own self-descriptions too.

After seeing princesses being powerful, both the girls and the boys described themselves as more multidimensional: "They [would] say: 'I am strong. I am powerful. I am a leader.' But also, 'I am caring, and I share.' "

In other words, when kids anywhere on the gender spectrum spend time with characters who are more complex, it can change the way they see themselves.

Truglio sums it up this way. "Kids play what they see. If you can see it, you can play it — then one day you can be it."

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The Checkup

Breaking Gender Stereotypes in the Toy Box

By Perri Klass, M.D.

• Feb. 5, 2018

Did you conscientiously buy dolls for your son and trucks for your daughter, or did you try to avoid the whole thing and give them both gender-neutral artisanal wooden objects, only to be shanghaied by the princess industry and superhero underpants?

Looking at how children play with toys that fall into gender stereotypes gives us a window on children’s developing sense of what goes along with being a boy or a girl.

But it can also be an important indicator of what skills young children are acquiring as they play, and of whether their academic and professional horizons are comparatively wide — or whether they are already starting to rule things out for themselves.

[The topics parents are talking about. Evidence-based guidance. Personal stories that matter. Sign up now to get NYT Parenting in your inbox every week.]

A new study suggests the potential power of words and images to counter gender stereotypes and open up what children see as possible interests and activities for themselves. And experts say that those choices are significant because they can influence the skills children learn and the possibilities they see for themselves.

Lauren Spinner, a developmental psychologist at the University of Kent in England, was the first author on a study published in January in the journal Sex Roles , which looked at the effect of showing 4- to 7-year-olds images of children playing with either stereotypic or counter-stereotypic toys.

A researcher read aloud the words that were printed in a bubble beside the image. In one experimental group, the children followed gender stereotype: “Hello! My name is Sarah, and my favorite toy is My Little Pony! I have lots, and play with them every day.” “Hello! My name is Thomas, and every day I like to play with my cars. They’re my favorite toys!” For the other experimental group, Sarah had the car and Thomas had My Little Pony; the language was otherwise identical.

After they had seen the pictures, the children in the study were shown a set of toys, chosen to be stereotypically masculine and feminine (baby doll, jet fighter, tool kit, tea set) and asked who should play with which toy, and the children who had seen the counter-stereotypic pictures were more flexible in their answers, more open to the idea that both girls and boys might like toys from both sides of the conventional aisle.

They were also less rigid when they were asked which children from the pictures they wanted to play with; exposure to Sarah-with-the-car and Thomas-with-the-pony meant that children were more open to playing with representatives of the other gender. So the toys in the pictures affected who the children wanted as playmates.

Dr. Spinner pointed out that seeing the photos did not open up the children’s preferences for what toys they themselves wanted to play with; they were more likely to say that other boys and girls could play with a variety of toys, but the two experimental groups were equally unlikely to make those counter-stereotypic choices themselves. On the other hand, she said, it was only one exposure, and it’s possible, if there were more of those counter-stereotypic images around, that children might become more open to enjoying the whole spectrum of toys.

Laura Zimmermann, a developmental psychologist who is a professor of psychology at Shenandoah University in Virginia, was the first author on a study published last year in the Journal of Children and Media , which looked at preschool children’s responses to toy commercials. Children are showing more flexibility than they used to, she said, in terms of who they thought the ads were meant for, responding that both boys and girls, for example, could like Batman, or like the “female” line of Lego building blocks.

“Their behavior got much more stereotypical when they were asked their own preferences,” she said, and the boys especially were unwilling to say that they liked any of the ads aimed at girls.

But the ads themselves, she said, continue to reflect the same old stereotypes. “My concerns are that children’s ads shape and reinforce stereotypes,” Dr. Zimmermann said. “They are obviously not working alone; we have wider societal influences at work, but ads are powerful.”

This is not about taking away the doll, or banishing the train. “If they aren’t interested in engaging in non-stereotypic gender play that is O.K. too,” Dr. Zimmermann said in an email. “Children should be free to play with the toys they enjoy — toys should not be ‘assigned’ by gender.”

But there is also research to say that when the lines are drawn too strictly, children’s worlds become not only more divided, but also more limited. Traditionally masculine toys like blocks and puzzles, Dr. Spinner said, encourage visual and spatial skills , while traditionally feminine toys encourage communication and social skills .

“If children only play with one, then they are missing out on a whole host of skills,” she said.

They are also limiting their own interests and the scope of their futures.

“We know that these stereotypes that are being shaped and reinforced can be linked to a lot of different things from educational and occupational goals to academic ability to social development,” Dr. Zimmermann said. “It is really important to have children get this broad range of experiences.”

As children grow up, Dr. Spinner said, they do tend to become more flexible about what boys and girls can do; 7-year-olds are less rigid than 4- or 5-year-olds. But the messages they get from their environment are important, and so is the chance to play with toys — and with other children — in ways that don’t box them in too tightly.

“Mixed gender play is really important, getting boys and girls to play with one another and recognize behavioral similarities,” Dr. Spinner said. “Children can overcome their anxieties about playing with other-gender children if you can get them to understand there are a lot of similarities in what they like to play with, rather than focusing on the gender of the child.”

Somewhere between the ages of 2 and 3, children figure out whether they are boys or girls, developmental psychologists say, often citing Lawrence Kohlberg’s theory of gender identity development ; they go on from there to identify the people around them as male or female, and to create rules and categories of what behaviors and interests and habits go with which identity.

“The good news or bad news is, experience makes a difference,” Dr. Zimmermann said. The images children see can reinforce stereotypes and limit their horizons, but they can also open up possibilities and lead kids to believe that they have more choices. Children are actively seeking clues about what their gender identities mean; toys and play should give them space, not narrow their choices.

Many parents have stories of a girl who insisted on rocking a toy train to sleep, or a boy who pushed a doll along the floor, making train noises, foiling well-meaning parental attempts to foster non-stereotypic play. And parents don’t have to “eradicate” all stereotypical play, Dr. Zimmermann said in an email message.

“After all, a princess can play with worms. And ninja cupcakes are quite tasty.”

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Toys for girls and boys show gender stereotypes at play

The way toys are marketed have implications way beyond the playground

By Dr Cordelia Fine, Melbourne Business School, University of Melbourne

Published 12 May 2016

Does it matter how toys are marketed to girls and boys? Should society care about the stereotypes implied by the pink and blue aisles of the toy store?

In November 2015, the Australian Senate referred the issue of domestic violence and gender inequality to the Senate Finance and Public Administration References Committee for inquiry in 2016. The terms of reference include the role of gender stereotypes in the marketing of toys and other products.

Greens Senator Larissa Waters, whose party initiated the inquiry, argues that gender-specific toy marketing contributes to “old-fashioned stereotypes” that, in turn, “perpetuate gender inequality, which feeds into very serious problems such as domestic violence and the gender pay gap”.

To some, making a link between kids’ toys and serious adult problems may seem absurd. Many assume that when marketers use labels, colours, symbols or segregation to indicate whether a toy is ‘for boys’ or ‘for girls’, this simply reflects and responds to profound, natural and timeless sex differences in what boys and girls like to play with – and what could be harmful about that?

Former prime minister Tony Abbott, for instance, seemed to speak for many with his advice to simply “Let boys be boys, let girls be girls”.

How are the various stakeholders in this debate supposed to make sense of these two very different perspectives? Charles Sturt University ethicist Emma Rush and I looked to the empirical literature for an answer, in work recently published in the Journal of Business Ethics .

Unfounded assumptions

The boys will be boys perspective can be challenged by decades of behavioural science – and also by a moment’s reflection. Consider yourself. Suppose that all someone knows about you is your sex. What are their chances, from this single piece of information, of correctly guessing your personality, your aspirations, your attitudes, your strengths and weaknesses, what you’re good at, what roles you play at home and work, what you find interesting and what bores you?

Even if the guesser used the latest and most comprehensive information about average differences between the sexes in gendered characteristics to generate her predictions, she wouldn’t capture you. She’d predict a stereotype that rarely, if ever, exists in reality. This is because we all have a mix of ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ qualities .

Yet when we designate toys as either ‘for boys’ or ‘for girls’, we imply that we can accurately predict a child’s temperament, interests and traits – and therefore what kind of toys they’d like to play with – on the basis of their sex.

Strong sex differences in children’s toy choices and play activities do develop. But in the first few years of life, these differences are very small, with a great deal of overlap in what girls and boys like to play with.

A recent study, conducted by Arizona State University and New York University, of nearly 100 two-year-old children found that about a third of the time, a randomly chosen boy would play more with a ‘girl toy’ than a randomly chosen girl would, and vice versa for ‘boy toys’. Contributing to the greater divergence between older girls and boys, research suggests, is kids’ motivation to connect everything they’ve learned about what’s ‘for males’ and what’s ‘for females’ with newly established knowledge of their own gender identity, at about two to three years of age.

In other words, the stereotypes reinforced by gender-specific toy marketing don’t simply reflect how boys and girls ‘naturally’ are.

Workplace diversity

This is important because, outside the playroom, we care a great deal about the detrimental effects of gender stereotypes. Because we recognise that you can’t accurately predict what a person is like on the basis of their sex, employers have a legal obligation to take reasonable measures to eliminate discrimination. It is of course against the law to consciously use gender stereotypes to decide who to employ and promote. However, the unconscious influence of stereotypes is now seen as such an obstacle to the fair evaluation, promotion and retention of women, particularly in traditionally masculine and better-rewarded roles, that organisations routinely invest considerable time and money in training to try to reduce unconscious bias.

Yet toy marketing is reinforcing those very stereotypes in the next generation with unprecedented vigour.

Of course, there are many sources of gender stereotypes. Nor does anyone think that getting rid of gender-specific toy marketing would solve the gender pay gap or gender inequality. It’s impossible to even quantify its contribution. Complex social problems like inequality always multiply unless collective action is taken on many fronts.

How efforts and money are best recruited to achieve a social goal, and how much regulation should be invoked, are legitimate questions for debate about how best to implement our social values. But a better understanding of what science has to say about gendered toy marketing provides a better basis for stakeholders to make decisions that, in their own small way, may have repercussions from play-room to board-room

Dr Cordelia Fine is author of Delusions of Gender and A Mind of it’s Own.

This article has been co-published with Exchange, the Faculty of Business and Economics’ magazine.

Banner Image: Pixabay

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Professor Cordelia Fine

History and Philosophy of Science, School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, Faculty of Arts, University of Melbourne

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