Girl Stuff and Boy Stuff: Gender and Toys

While at Toy Fair 2011 a few weeks ago, I took a break to attend one of the lectures. Richard Gottlieb, CEO of USA Toy Experts and Publisher of Global Toy News was on hand to share the results of a new study on Gender bias in toys. The Toy Experts compiled a survey of more than 1500 parents representing 48 states. Almost all of those taking the survey were moms (98% were female caregivers). Here are the toy buying trends we can report:

Girly Games

91% of moms do not believe that toys influence the sexual preference of a child. (agreed)

Of the moms polled, 20% of them admitted to feeling their husbands wouldn't want their sons playing with dolls. (no opinion don't have boys).

55% of mom did not believe their daughters preferred to play with pink.(Clearly they did not poll my pink obsessed girls, and it should be noted I own almost NO pink)

Boys and Toys

15% of moms report their sons play with dolls (I'm guessing here in Brooklyn the rates are not higher)

41% of moms report their sons play with kitchen tools (We can thank the FoodNetwork for this trend).

60% of moms report their sons play with plush animals (Shocked that this is not 100%)

Sarah Palin Alert:

37% of moms would restrict their daughters from playing with toy guns

26% of moms would restrict their sons from playing with guns (I'm scratching my head over the 11% difference here)

Career Impact:

62% of moms felt that toys DID NOT impact future career path of their kids (Um, I was obsessed with Barbie and books, now I blog about style--I think these parents are fooling themselves).

Purchasing Influencers:

1. Child's wish
2. Another parent's recommendation
3. A blogger recommendation
4. Newspaper/magazine article or TV spotlight
5. Advertising
6. In-store demonstration
7. Store placement

Just another reminder to blog wisely--apparently we're very influential. I'm going to use my pulpit to promote toys that are creative, fun and maybe, just maybe inspiring.

Momtrends was not paid for this post.