I have spoken to many journalists in the last few days: it's been a media whirlwind. Many ask similar questions. I have just replied to one with the answers below so am posting here.
Hamleys official stance on their decision to remove is that it had nothing to do with the campaign you orchestrated. What's your response to that?
I think it's a remarkable coincidence that the store changed their signs a few days after I wrote to the CEO, and a few days after I spoke to Landsbanki, the Icelandic bank that controls Hamleys. Also, when I spoke to their marketing team at the same time as sending the letter, Hamleys did not mention that they planned to changed the signs - surely if they were going to do so, they would have told me and all this could have been avoided! I think that, as it is so near to Christmas, the change of signs could only be due to campaign pressure. Iceland is a progressive county in terms of equal rights and opportunities so I suspected there would be interest and pressure over there.
If it really was a marketing decision, as they claim, what do you think the impetus behind that could be (considering that most toy stores keep their aisles gender codified because they claim in increases revenue).
I really have no idea. I would be very interested to know whether gender-codified toys actually increase revenue or whether there is no difference. I suspect the latter, and I think all people want is to be able to find their way around with minimum confusion. When the toys are categorised by type, there is no confusion whatsoever. I am surprised that Hamleys did not use the opportunity of this campaign to show that they were a forward-thinking organisation and had listened and responded to public opinion on this issue. I am certainly not the first person to campaign or write about this. Many people have campaigned hard for a long time in the UK and beyond and will be very pleased at the result. I think the resistance to the change from some people reflects the fact that gender stereotypes are so ingrained in our society, and that's exactly what we want to shake up and ask questions about.
Does it matter the reasoning behind their decision, or just the fact that they actually did it?
It doesn't matter. The fact they did it is enough to signify an important step toward gender equality. At the very least, it has generated a huge amount of public debate. It has been covered in most of the newspapers, on radio and TV, and many people are discussing it on social media and beyond. It's really important that we discuss this issue seriously, because gender stereotyping and conditioning of children is a likely to be a huge factor in influencing the activities they engage in, the skills they develop and ultimately the roles they end up fulfilling in society. We have gaping inequalities between the genders in our society (for example, in the UK, only a fifth of our MPs and less than 1% of business leaders are female). There are many factors contributing to these disparities, and it's important to try to unpick them. As yet, there is no scientific consensus that boys and girls are born with differences in terms of aspirations, caring tendencies and cognitive abilities, such as problem-solving skills, ability to think logically and to be more or less suited to leadership. Conversely, the exposure of children to different types of toys, as well as other types of conditioning, is much more likely to affect the development of skills, interests and paths people take.
Do you think more stores will follow Hamley's lead
I do. In fact, other toyshops have already ditched gender labelling in response to campaigns, such as the Early Learning Centre a few years ago, and Toys 'R' Us in Sweden. Hamleys is one of the world's largest and most influential toyshops in the world, and the considerable amount of publicity will certainly carry weight. More people are talking about the issue, toyshops may think again and we will keep campaigning.
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Ah, the joys of trying to persuade a family member who shall remain anonymous that the reason my nephews liked cars and trains and things with wheels was not necessarily related to their XY chromosomes! Many people will say that they, or their children, or children they worked with, did not always fit neat gender-stereotypes.
ReplyDeleteI did my best to laugh at the trolls you got on the various sites. Particularly the chap who tutted that there were all sorts of worse things going on in the world. How thoughtful of him to take a couple of minutes out of HIS ceaseless attempts to bring world peace in order to sneer at you!
Further thought: if it is so trivial, why are some of the trolls so hostile?
ReplyDeleteThe family member mentioned said something about boys being adventurous, and that is why it was important to baby-proof electrical sockets. I asked whether she would advise parents of girls not to bother about this! She said they should do baby-proof, just in case.
In all fairness, she had no problem with the boys having access to dolls, and to a dressing-up box that included girly items of clothing as well as pirate stuff.
I think what people don't seem to get is that it's simply about freedom of choice - girls can choose pink, boys can choose blue, girls can choose doll's houses. boys can choose guns, but what's important is that they choose, not that someone one else makes the decision for them. Imagine going into a restaurant and being given the man's (or the woman's) menu ...
ReplyDeletePatrese, your comment reminds me of something my mum told me about careers advice at schools in her generation. The girls were given a pink form with a list of options - secretary, assistant etc and the boys given a blue form with completely different options on them. Decades later, we still have the gender discrimination, but it is in a different form (ie commercial pressures).
ReplyDeleteOf course, there may be girls who want to play with dolls AND guns. I recommend the gender-neutral toy which has pretty eyelashes AND can plays with guns. Alas, she is fictional ........
ReplyDeleteDear Delilah,
ReplyDeleteI just listened to your Interview with CNN and could not resist to write in gratitude for your work.
Like many other commentators I noticed an increase in gender discrimination in toys. At least in germany many people believe, that decades after the feminist movements we should stop promoting equal rights between the genders. Misleadingly some people think equality is already established and argue girls and boys have the freedom of choice what they want to read, play with or want to become in the future. In my opinion campaigns like from Hamleys clearly show that we are very far away from equality between the genders. Moreover I think it got worse with companies using every marketing strategy to sell their products. Hamleys is a very good example to influence how girls and boys play, but more strikingly is the increased number of books published with clear gender discrimination. We already see a color-branding of books with teaches children what boys or girls should read and be interested in. I think from this it is only a short step back to pink and blue forms teaching student which career options they have.
Thank you very much for your commitment and courage.
My experience, albeit limited, plus comments from various friends, suggests that many boys actually quite like pink. As they get older, there is pressure on them to keep quiet about anything that indicates too much interest in anything too "girly". And that is sad and stupid.
ReplyDelete