1. JOUR 535
Yuyuhou Li
Girls Deserve More than Beauty Salons and Cupcake Bakeries
Imagine if you had a seven-year-old daughter who was interested in science, but Lego
only sold her little pink beauty salons and cupcake bakeries. When you brought her to
Lego stores, she was disappointed that there were a small number of female figures
and they did not have jobs.
You saw your little girl frowning at the toys and felt like her dream was shattered. She
loves adventures, Star Wars, leading a team, but Lego’s unspoken words are: you are
supposed to dress up, go shopping and be a simple-minded beauty. Saving the planet
and making a fortune? Those are for boys.
Lego’s gender inequality will hurt more than one girl and their families. Therefore, it
is time to oppose Lego’s gender stereotypes and advocate gender equality among boys
and girls. Make our girls define themselves and encourage them to do whatever they
want.
Here are some surprising statistics. More than 80 percent of Lego consumers are boys,
according to Harvard Business Review. In the workplace, women have had only 14
percent of the top corporate jobs and 17 percent of the board seats for 10 years in the

2. United States.
It seems that females have been neglected since childhood. However, they deserve a
better and fair start in the initial stage of their lives. We need to make the girls learn
that adventure, ambition, and leadership are not boys’ labels, and they are as powerful
as boys.
To do this, the National Organization for Woman (NOW) has put forward a proposal
to Lego, arguing that Lego should expand its product line and add more female
figures with diversified careers in its building blocks. The NOW also mentions that
there should be both boy and girl leaders in each toy set.
Actually, we could do more. We could hold Lego block building competitions in
kindergartens and primary schools to see how our girls and boys show their talent. We
could set up a Facebook page for girls’ parents and invite them to post their children’s
completed Lego arts or share stories of their children’s dreams. And the most
important thing is, we are supposed to break up the gender stereotype and implant the
belief of gender equality in our kids.
Children’s characters are shaped by our society to some degree. So our society should
not mislead girls over their roles. They are not born to like Barbie Dolls, wear pink,
become housewives in the future. Girls could love building bridges, playing airplane

3. models and be ambitious to achieve their career success and gain recognition.
What we need to do is encourage our girls to aim high and do whatever they want.
Lego is a wonderful toy company, but I think it should make a change and pay equal
attention to boys and girls. I hope more people will join us to promote gender equality.
As famous female executive Sheryl Sandberg puts it, “In the future, there will be no
female leaders. There will just be leaders”, our girls and boys are both future builders.