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Moving forward, LEGO says it’s committed to making all its products and marketing “accessible to all and free of gender bias and harmful stereotypes.”
More specifically, the Danish toy company emphasized wanting the act of play to be “more inclusive” to ensure “children’s creative ambitions – both now in the future – are not limited by gender stereotypes.” The brand further shared that it plans to “work closely with the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media and UNICEF” to ensure LEGO reaches its newly set goals.
“The benefits of creative play such as building confidence, creativity and communication skills are felt by all children and yet we still experience age-old stereotypes that label activities as only being suitable for one specific gender,” said Julia Goldin, CMO of the LEGO Group in a press release. “At the LEGO Group we know we have a role to play in putting this right, and this campaign is one of several initiatives we are putting in place to raise awareness of the issue and ensure we make LEGO play as inclusive as possible. All children should be able to reach their true creative potential.”
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In research that surveyed nearly 7,000 parents and children aged 6-14 years old in China, Czech Republic, Japan, Poland, Russia, UK and USA that was commissioned by the LEGO Group, it highlighted “the need for society to rebuild perceptions, actions and words to support creative empowerment of all children.”
As an announcement released on this year’s International Day of The Girl, the company highlighted that girls in particular face biases in how and why they play due to their gender. The company’s “insights further indicate that girls are typically encouraged into activities that are more cognitive, artistic and related to performance compared to boys who are more likely to be pushed into physical and STEM-like activities (digital, science, building, tools).”
“Adversely, [parents] are almost four times as likely to encourage boys over girls to engage in program games (80% vs. 20%) and sports (76% vs. 24%) and over twice as likely to do the same when it comes to coding toys (71% vs. 29%).”
While the brand didn’t detail what was going to change about its products as of yet, the LEGO Group “has transitioned its product and marketing department from gender-focused product groups to groups focusing on ‘passions and interests,’” according to NBC.
