--- title: White House Takes Aim at Toys That Perpetuate Gender Roles description: The administration wants to change the way we think about gender roles—starting with the toys we give children canonical: https://time.com/4283487/white-house-toys-gender-stereotypes/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-06T15:03:31.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:02:11.445Z og:title: White House Takes Aim at Toys That Perpetuate Gender Stereotypes og:description: The administration wants to change the way we think about gender roles—starting with the toys we give children og:url: https://time.com/4283487/white-house-toys-gender-stereotypes/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt69bef677d531738c/69888df7428a9e2b69cd21a0/white-house-toys-gender.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 126441003 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: White House Takes Aim at Toys That Perpetuate Gender Stereotypes twitter:description: The administration wants to change the way we think about gender roles—starting with the toys we give children twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt69bef677d531738c/69888df7428a9e2b69cd21a0/white-house-toys-gender.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The White House Takes Aim at Toys That Perpetuate Gender Stereotypes by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Apr 6, 2016 3:03 PM UTC  Two Pairs of Baby Shoes Two Pairs of Baby ShoesGetty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Apr 6, 2016 3:03 PM UTC The [White House Council on Women and Girls](https://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/cwg) is hosting a daylong conference Wednesday aimed at shifting the way media and toys present gendered images to young people. “Research shows that the toys kids play with and the media they consume has a real impact on the skills and interests they develop over their lifetimes,” Tina Tchen, the executive director of the White House Council of Women and Girls, said on a conference call. “We think it’s important for children’s media and toys to expose kids to diverse role models and teach them a variety of skills.” The conference comes at an interesting time for toys and media: While companies like [GoldieBlox](http://time.com/4098641/goldieblox-ad-ruby-rails-action-figure/) have won praise for marketing construction as an activity open to girls _and_ boys, some [department stores have come under fire for promoting gendered messaging](http://time.com/3926823/ohio-mom-target-tweet/) in their toy aisles. The White House is joining the conversation by championing the idea that breaking down gender stereotypes will be key to future generations’ success in the workforce. “That is really what’s going to be key to us as a nation, really making the best use of the talents of all of our workforce,” Tchen said. **_Read more:_** [_What CrossFit Can Teach Pro Sports About Gender Equality_](http://motto.time.com/4279643/women-soccer-gender-discrimination-crossfit/) As a part of the conference, several organizations and companies—including Netflix, Girl Scouts, Discovery Communications and TIME for Kids (a sibling publication of TIME and Motto)—have announced new efforts to present diverse images to kids. A session of PlayCon, the annual toy industry conference, will also be dedicated confronting to gender stereotypes. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4283487/white-house-toys-gender-stereotypes/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4283487/white-house-toys-gender-stereotypes/"},"headline":"The White House Takes Aim at Toys That Perpetuate Gender Stereotypes","datePublished":"2016-04-06T15:03:31.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:02:11.445Z","description":"The administration wants to change the way we think about gender roles—starting with the toys we give children","url":"https://time.com/4283487/white-house-toys-gender-stereotypes/","keywords":["motto","News"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt69bef677d531738c/69888df7428a9e2b69cd21a0/white-house-toys-gender.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt69bef677d531738c/69888df7428a9e2b69cd21a0/white-house-toys-gender.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"126441003","caption":"Two Pairs of Baby Shoes","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4283487/white-house-toys-gender-stereotypes/","name":"The White House Takes Aim at Toys That Perpetuate Gender Stereotypes"}}]}] ```