Date and Time: Tuesday, October 14 from 2:00-3:00pm
Location: 110 Cummington Mall, Room 245


Join GWISE for a new series, Coffee and Conversations. In this series, we hope to provoke meaningful discussions about issues relevant to women in STEM. This month, we will dive into the world of gendered toys. Walk into any store selling toys for kids and you'll be met with the following: a sea of pink full of dolls (for girls) and a wall of blue filled with trucks and superheroes (for boys). We'll talk about whether boys and girls have innate toy preferences- and if those preferences justify the vast differences in which toys end up being marketed to boys vs girls. One concern lately has been whether, and to what extent, the toys that we play with as children affect our future career choices. While there exists little research on this aspect of gendered toys, there is speculation that the lack of both role models (dolls more often than not have non-STEM occupations) and building toys for girls contributes to the dearth of women in science and engineering fields. Can companies such as GoldieBlox help to bring girls into engineering? Check out the articles below, and join us for a discussion on gender and negotiation over coffee, tea, and snacks!

Sex differences in rhesus monkey toy preferences parallel those of children (research paper on "innate" toy preferences)
Why Are Toys So Gendered? (pop sci article taking an opposing position)
Do children's toys influence their career choices? (speculative BBC article)