Coming Soon to a Toy Store Near You!
BMC Toys will be soon coming out with little green army women. Brigit Katz’s article, “‘Little green army men’ will soon feature female toy soldiers,” explains how a 6-year-old girl named Vivian Lord recently wrote a letter to BMC Toys asking why there weren’t little army figurines in the shape of women. In 2018, JoAnn Ortloff, a retired fleet master chief, also wrote a letter to BMC requesting that army women be featured. Ortloff wanted her granddaughter to see that girls could also be in the army, not just boys. Vivian, on the other hand, knew that women could be in the army; she just didn’t understand why there were no figurines representing those women (CLICK HERE to read the rest of Katz’s article).
Jeff Imel, the owner of BMC Toys, explains that the main reason he has put off adding army women to the collection is the cost of producing new figures and new poses. Clearly, Imel decided the price is worth it, as he said, "Every kid wants to be the hero of their story. It shouldn't be up to us to decide who the hero is. Girls should be able to connect to the toys just as much as boys do."
It is important for young girls and boys to know that there isn’t just one place for everyone. Women can be in the army. Little girls should not think they are limited to a certain field of work. If boys play with these army figurines but only see men, it could influence their view of any workplace. They could see women as secondary to men at work. They could think women are unable to perform certain jobs. Instead, by showing young kids that women have as many job opportunities as men, we are taking a step toward greater equality and integration of women in the workplace.
Do you find the inclusion of women in toy figurines to be of any importance? Why or why not? How do you think the lack of female toy figures could impact young children? If you were a six-year-old today, would you want to play with the army women figurines? Would you even have realized that there weren’t originally female figurines? Would you care?
Cool post! When I was younger, I always loved playing with army guys and never truly stopped to think about how they were only men and no women. That is an interesting concept considering that a lot of the women in the armed forces are never truly recognized. They are under appreciated and this is just a step into the right direction with topics such as women in the armed forces.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Emma! Nice image, selection of quote, and linking of an article. (And I also agree that this is s good idea to expand our notion of gender roles in the military.)
ReplyDelete