Barbie, LEGO Diversity Goals Have Big Impact on Girls of Color

Oct. 28, 2021 — Last yr, on a visit to Disney Springs, the procuring advanced at Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL, Brianna Watson, a spouse and motherhood blogger, and her then-3-year-old daughter, Ari, walked by the Lego Store, the place Mickey Mouse, Maleficent, and different characters had been featured in Lego kind.

“I want some!” Ari exclaimed excitedly.

Ari, who Watson, 29, describes as “the definition of girly girl” with a keenness for fairly attire and skirts, began pre-Okay in August.

After recognizing a field of Legos in her classroom, it grew to become clear to Watson that Ari’s curiosity within the building toys by no means waned. She started asking to get to highschool round 7:30 a.m., giving her half an hour of Lego play earlier than class begins.

“It’s typically her by herself or with another boy, or her teacher will go over there and play with her for a little bit,” Watson says.

While Legos are historically often known as being merchandise “for boys,” Ari’s love for constructing Lego towers and castles isn’t essentially distinctive, in keeping with new analysis commissioned by the Lego Group and carried out by the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media.

Girls are sometimes keen to participate in all forms of inventive play, together with STEM (science, know-how, engineering, arithmetic)-related actions, like constructing the Empire State Building utilizing marshmallows and toothpicks or making their very own cloud with water, ice, hairspray, and a Mason jar.

But many lose curiosity as they get older, and widespread societal beliefs about what constitutes ladies’ vs. boys’ actions play a significant function, findings present.

Today, girls make up near half of the U.S. workforce, however solely characterize 27% of STEM staff, in keeping with the U.S. Census Bureau.

Black (2%) and Hispanic (2%) girls make up lower than 5% of staff in STEM-related occupations, in keeping with the National Science Foundation.

In efforts to fight these gender disparities, Lego launched its “Ready for Girls” marketing campaign on Oct. 11, the United Nations’ International Day of the Girl Child.

Lego vows to take away gender bias from its merchandise and advertising and marketing, and it’ll check merchandise with girls and boys, says Julia Goldin, chief advertising and marketing and product officer for the Lego Group.