Call me crazy but I probably wouldn't even have noticed if you hadn't pointed it out. My daughter is often playing with dinosaurs and my son is using the play kitchen to make pancakes. Not a big deal in this household.

The times I notice this is when I want to buy something for my young son that is apparently a "girl" item. For example, my son loves to help clean, so I wanted to get him a child's size broom and dust pan. The only ones I could find were bright pink. I don't mind if my son likes pink, but I don't like pink so I went and found a small kitchen broom instead (for cheaper too).

With kids that young, how can you tell from a clothed photo what gender they are? I guess we're supposed to conclude from the pinky-purply shirt and the ear-length hair that the one on the left is a girl (in the cars photo)? But if they care so much about gender neutrality, why is she wearing gendered clothes and hairstyle?

Similarly, why is the girl (long hair) vacuuming with a pink vacuum and the boy (short hair) using a blue one?

I love Sweden! I don't have kids myself, but I often notice (and hear mothers complain about) how gender-biased kid's stuff is, particularly baby clothing. I'm a total girly girl but I loved my Legos and Hot Wheels, and my brother's favorite color was purple when he was little. Gender-neutrality helps foster tolerance for people being, well, just people, as opposed to some plastic image of how they "should" be. Also, that mini vacuum cleaner looks rad.

I love Sweden too. I don't think this is a publicity stunt. This is legit.

There is a doll commercial on TV that says you should buy it to "teach your daughter how to be a good mom." It makes me want to vomit. More of this, less of THAT.

I applaud the changes in the catalogs, and am aware that Sweden and Norway have gone much further in dealing with gender depiction issues in their respective educational systems. Their approaches recognize that the problem is complex and multifaceted. So while my kids do pick up on some gender stereotyping in toy commercials (which they are rarely exposed to, given they watch TVO almost exclusively), what I've noticed is that friends and other kids at school can be very influential as to how they perceive a toy.

Take a look at any upscale toy catalog in the US, and you'll see the same thing. And, if ads for toys both you, don't buy the toys. If enough people do this, the manufacturers will get the message.

@Polly S. - Generally, yeah, clothing is a clue. You can give boys pink toys and girls blue toys, but society still relies on some kind of established clue like clothing when it comes to kids that age.

I think what is more important here is the fact that the company depicts boys and girls playing together and often with toys that might be traditionally more acceptable to one gender over another. The boy and girl are riding little cars (which are totally gender neutral primary colors), they're both playing with the ironing board, and the play kitchen is of gender neutral colors.

I practically had a panic attack last night at Toys R Us with all of the inane gender separation of toys. Spotted phrases like "just like home" & "little mommy" on pink aprons & brooms in the kitchen toy section. This makes me feel a little better about the world.

In 2012, this should be the norm. As the mom of an eleventh month old son, I could go on a tangent about gender based clothing as well. I do not want sports and trucks on every thing thank you very much. At least that arena has gotten a little better.

My youngest son when small, LOVED his 'easy bake' oven. He asked for it one Christmas and had a grand time with it baking cakes and decorating them!

I don't have kids, but the picture of the little boy ironing and feeding the dolly does seem a bit weird to me. Showing both the girl and boy enjoying each toy feels forced. Aren't kids going to play with whatever they want, regardless of a catalog? Let's face it, most boys like trucks and most girls like dolls. Who cares.

I have noticed this in toy catalogs (even the high end ones) - the reason I noticed was because the girls where pictured with all of the toys I would have hated as a kid (ironing boards? Vacuum Cleaners? Are you KIDDING?) and the boys got the fun ones.
I also noticed that most of the girl's household items were pink which made me gag even more.
Long live Sweden!

Why would it make you feel ill? Girls (XX chromosomes) grow up to be women who have all the right equipment to be moms. That's what sex is for, to create babies. It's fun, so we'll do it a lot.

Even women who are childless have specific "motherly" reactions to emotions and problems and situations. Yay!

There perhaps should be a toy for boys to "teach them to be good dads." That's how you make it even, not by suppressing the unique nature of women.

I work at a children's clothing store and it makes me so mad when a little boy puts a headband on or a hair bow and shows his parent, and that parent says "no, take that off, that's for girls." My brother is transgender and it makes me really sad when children grow up conflicted, because what they like is not what they "should" like.

Bravo, Top Toys. This stuff matters. Kids soak up society's expectations like sponges, and I think we should be encouraging them to follow their own instincts, not to be constrained by what they're being presented with as 'acceptable' for their gender.

Thereze Z, isn't making it more acceptable for boys to play with dolls, as this is doing, helping teach them to be good dads?

This is great! Wish more companies would follow in their footsteps.

I have a 4 year old son and yes, I've noticed it in catalogs and with toys. My son's favorite animal is a cat. It is next to impossible to find clothing with a cat on it that is not pink, sparkly or ruffled. Little boys like things other than trucks, sports, dinosaurs and dogs.

He also went through a phase where he wanted a baby doll, but he wanted it to "look like him" with similar clothes . . . It was nearly impossible to find inexpensive doll accessories and clothes that weren't pink and ruffled and had "Mommy" emblazoned all over them. I don't care if his doll is pink, buthe very clearly wanted a boy baby. I ended up just making him some things for his baby doll.

Yes, he loves trains and trucks, but that's not all he loves. He loves to cook, to help me clean, to help decorate and My Little Pony. We've come a long way with allowing girls to play with "boy" toys, but not nearly far enough with allowing boys to play with "girly" toys.

I talked about this with my boyfriend last night and he admitted that he'd always enjoyed playing with his sister's dollhouse and, further, was always amazed as a kid at how perfectly Barbie's shoes fit on her feet!

I used to work in the children's department of a book store a few times my heart just broke for the boys who desperately wanted a book in the "Rainbow Faeries" series and instead were told that they had to get a book on dinosaurs that they were massively disinterested in. Furthermore, after I left the store, they insisted that the rapidly-expanding toy section be further divided by gender lines, with vacuum cleaners and broom/dustpan sets being placed in the "girl" section and, infuriatingly, the dress-up doctor kit be placed in the boy section.

The fact that the girl with a slingshot (there's one with a nerf gun in the catalogue as well) and the boy vacuuming don't look really out of place just shows how silly the preconceived notions of gender-based play are. Kids will play with what they want and often only make "boy" or "girl" decisions based on cues from adults.

There are lots of sources for less-gendered and non-gendered toys in the US but you aren't going to find it in the hellish aisles of Toys-R-Us. I simply don't except to go to a big box store and find stuff I want to buy. And if I can't find it online, I can always creat it on etsy.com .

I grew up sharing all toys, including stuffed animals, dolls, action figures and transforming vehicles, with my sister, who's one year older. We never thought of (or cared about) if they're boys' or girls' toys.

And I think it is sad that cooking and vacuuming (and parenting) are thought of as women's activities only; they are just basic skills!

I'm so proud of my swedish roots. now grow up, america!

MissFifi, I totally agree with you about the clothing. I have an almost three year old girl, and even at this age it's so hard to find clothes that I don't think look trashy. Not everything for girls needs to have glitter or ruffles or faux fur or be hot pink or have some "clever" saying on it. It's so obnoxious.

Not actually true, at that age in particular. If the parents don't influence them, most small children play *together.*

My brother and I played house with Hotwheels and micromachines (the babies) and we send Barbie and Ken on adventures to fight monsters. I didn't learn what I was "supposed to be" until later.

There are some innate tendencies, but they don't apply to every child and they are not nearly so firm as "boys like trucks, girls like dolls."

I used to babysit for a little boy who was going to be a big brother. His parents got him a 'practice brother' and a stroller. It was NOT (according to him) a doll. But he was very good at practicing how to hold and feed the baby, and LOVED taking it to the park. Everyone should know how to cook, operate a motor vehicle, clean, make change, hold a baby, and use basic tools. Maybe it's not the toy itself, but the way you present it to the kid.

I have three boys. They play with what they want to play with. Naturally they pick up on more feminine characteristics. When our small school was starting a trial ballet class for the students some of the boys were comfortable taking it. My eldest son, 3, at the time was really upset that I enrolled him....no one had said anything about girls (and he watched boys performing)....yet, he freaked out saying it was for girls and princesses (oh, and he doesn't watch much tv...@ all)?? I didn't make him take the class. He was naturally picking up the feminine qualities. At a young age, kids will not know how to interpret someone encouraging something that they doesn't feel natural. And, I didn't want to confuse him. Let them play with what they want to. Oh, and we have a kitchen and plenty of child friendly cleaning supplies. Nothing wrong with males learning how to take care of themselves / learn how to be responsible human beings. And, have you ever seen the difference in the way boys and girls handle baby dolls? Girls are naturally nurturing, talking soft and sweet while rocking the baby. While boys throw the baby over their shoulders and give a hearty pat on the back saying "it's ok, baby." Seen it so many times. Subtle, but telling, I think. And, the straight up pink and blues have got to go. Even if coming from just a design perspective. The color spectrum is practically infinite. Create new color palettes for products that don't cost us parents a fortune.

http://diligentdesigner.blogspot.com/

Maybe the reason they "like" those things is because they're constantly told (through advertising, toy stores, friends) that's that what they should like. If you're a little girl and all you ever see are pictures of little girls wearing pink and playing with dolls and home chore toys, it's hard, as a child, to not take that as normal and desire it yourself. We care because we want kids to be equally encouraged to play with different kinds of toys, explore different things, and learn different skills so they can excel as persons, not as members of a particular gender. The fact that you, as an adult, find it weird and forced is exactly why this matters - because as adults we're still dominated by gender stereotypes.

Exactly. I agree that kids lean toward tendencies because they are bombarded with images of what they should be and are ridiculed for wanting to play with toys that aren't "for" them. They get pressured into it and it's not fair. Parents often have to fight an uphill battle to get their kids to understand they can be whoever they choose.

This makes me so happy.

Thanks for this encouraging post.
I remember when I went looking for small farm animal figurines for my son at a large toy store in France, and was told to go to the "boys' floor". I remember thinking that I (an ex-little girl) would have enjoyed playing with those same animals when I was a kid. For his next birthday, my son asked for a toy cash register. You guessed it : I found it on the (mostly pink) girls' floor. YIkes.

Harrod's also recently re-did their toy department so that the toys are organized by theme, not separated into boys and girls.

http://www.dezeen.com/2012/08/01/shed-design-create-gender-neutral-toy-department-at-harrods/

I have a 3-year old son, and we try to expose him to as many different toys and types of play as possible, whether they be marketed to boys or to girls.

Even when I was shopping for newborn stuff before he was born, I became frustrated with the lack of gender neutral items for kids, especially when it came to clothing.

But the solution became obvious to me pretty quickly: If you can't find what you're looking for in a store, or if you're tired of the gender stereotypes surrounding toys, why not subvert 'the system' and simply make your own stuff?

We made a kitchen for him out of cardboard boxes and colourful duct tape, dolls and other playthings out of felt and other recycled fabrics, and added our own details to plain clothing. Now that he's getting bigger, he participates in these crafting sessions, and it's super fun for us and him. It's also cheap, and it teaches your kids other important lessons about consumerism, recycling, as well as skills like independence, creativity and how to be self-sustainable. The toys and clothing we create together are also far more meaningful - due to the nature of certain construction materials, some will not last long, but others will become keepsakes to pass down to his kids.

That said, my son does not live in a bubble, and is the first in line when the flyers and catalogues are delivered to our door. He also picks up on things from other kids - eg - there were 6 boys dressed as Spider Man in his preschool this Halloween, so he started taking an interest in Spider Man. But he went ahead and made his own Spider Man mask, although his was pink and green :) His buddies thought it was cool. And when perusing the latest Christmas toy catalogue, he's now asking whether we can 'Make something like this' rather than buy it.

So my point in all this is, perhaps when we stop buying so much stuff these retailers will also get the message.

I find it SO annoying when I go to shop for toys as gifts only find the toys completely separated by gender! It just ticks me off.
I was fortunate to grow up on a ranch, surrounded by animals, tractors, tools and rough stuff - even with my mom as a housewife, doing the cooking and cleaning.
Of course girls are going to imitate their mom with play of household chores and cooking... but thank God I had a brother and got to play with toy cars, trains, tractors and loaders and blowing stuff up!!

I'm not a mom, but if/ when I have a daughter, I don't want any pink crap infiltrating my home (until she asks for pink herself!) Yes, I personally hate pink and that's my thing... but shouldn't we have more selection? These days why should anything but tampons be for girls only?

Yay! This is such an important step forward!!

I love this catalog and wish that shopping here in the US looked more like that - one important way to make our voice heard about this is sign this petition on Change.org to Toys ' R' Us. Maybe if they have enough signatures they will change their ad practices.

http://www.change.org/petitions/toys-r-us-stop-stereotyping-our-children

I absolutely adore this idea. I have nieces out the wazoo. It's tough to find engaging things that are not overly girly or pushy. And the clothes!!! Just give me something simple! These girls aren't "bootylicious"...SMH.
That being said...
I was not overly girly as a child, and wasn't really exposed to the whole gender stereotyped toy thing (I read a lot) BUT! There was something about the different "world" that the girl's aisle was. I remember feeling sorry for the boys because their aisle wasn't pretty. I never was, and still am not a pink fan. But the pink and the glitter and Barbie made it okay to be girly and giggle and be delighted. Not that other, more gender-neutral things didn't evoke the same response, but there was something magical about the pink girl's aisle.
Still, I don't buy that stuff for my nieces. They get books and science kits and stuff for their bikes and stock for their future portfolios.

I think I just threw up a little in my mouth.

Love this. When I was little, I got "girl" toys and my brother got "boy" toys -- but I played with his GI Joes, and he played with my Barbies, and I built Legos with him, and he played dress-up with me.We both adored stuffed animals, Fisher Price people, Lite Brites, and a lot of other games. We definitely had the idea that some toys were gender-related, but at the same time, we each enjoyed playing with the other's toys about as much as our own. Better to let kids do what they enjoy and not worry too much about forcing them into/out of a mold.

(A friend of mine said that, as a small boy, he desperately wanted a Barbie. His parents never bought him one, and told him they were afraid it would make him a "sissy," aka gay. And he says, "I turned out to be gay anyway! So they might as well have given me the Barbie!")