California orders Big Retail to add gender-neutral toy aisles. That’s just silly | Opinion

California’s reputation as a nanny state is mostly undeserved — but a new, gender-neutral toy law that takes effect on Jan. 1 plays right into that stereotype.

AB 1084 — passed by the Legislature and signed by the governor in 2021 — requires big retailers to include a gender-neutral section of toys. Failure to comply could result in a $250 fine for a first offense and $500 for a repeat violation.

The regulation applies to retailers that have at least 500 employees throughout their California locations — the Walmarts and Targets, in other words.

The law doesn’t ban the traditional “boys” and “girls” sections in big retail stores. There can still be aisles devoted exclusively to “boy toys” like trucks and construction sets, and others set aside for Barbies and princess costumes, as long as there also is a section with a cross-section of toys.

What’s a ‘reasonable selection’ of toys?

The law is vague when it comes to requirements for the gender-neutral display; it merely says that it must include a “reasonable selection” of toys, regardless of whether the products have traditionally been marketed for girls or boys.

That’s not much to go on. Should the area include a mix of trucks, dolls and maybe some stuffed animals? Is it meant to be filled with educational toys? Or maybe books, board games and Pokeman cards?

A Walmart in San Luis Obispo County dealt with the requirement by dedicating a smallish nook near the store entrance to toys, and filling it with a sad, uninspiring mishmash of dolls, Lego sets, board games and “blasters” that look like complicated, space-age weapons.

The bigger, far more appealing toy section is in the main part of the store, where shoppers can find aisle after aisle of toys, some “gendered” and others not.

Clumsy way to nudge the toy business

This is well-meaning legislation that is intended to break down gender stereotypes. It was inspired, at least in part, by the daughter of a staffer working for the bill’s author, Assemblyman Evan Low, D-Silicon Valley. The girl wondered why some toys seemed to be off-limits to girls.

Smart girl. And good question, especially since research shows that when children are limited to traditionally “gendered” toys — chemistry sets for boys and baking sets for girls, for example — that can narrow their interests and expectations for their futures.

Of course children should have opportunities to play with a wide variety of toys and games that don’t perpetuate outdated stereotypes. But this law is a clumsy way to nudge the toy business into changing its marketing tactics.

For one thing, it has an extremely limited scope; children will still be exposed to “gendered” toy advertisements, which is where they get much of their information — not from wandering up and down the toy store aisles. And it doesn’t apply to smaller, independent toy stores.

Also, how will this be enforced? Are city code enforcement officers going to patrol toy store aisles, or will this be on a complaint-driven basis? More than likely, it will be yet another regulation that’s on the books but really isn’t enforced.

Some toy sellers already going gender-neutral

The irony is, some retailers were already starting to head in a gender-neutral direction when the the Legislature decided to step in.

Assemblymember Low acknowledged as much in a 2021 interview with the Sacramento Bee: “As much as I’d like to think of this as watershed legislation, this is something the industry is already doing. We’re just trying to play catch up,” he said.

If the industry was already doing it, why do we need a law?

And why just focus on retailers, while ignoring toy manufacturers that are still churning out toys that perpetuate gender stereotypes, instead of evolving to reflect 21st century reality?

For instance, how about making more dolls that appeal to boys — and not just G.I. Joe? And do Hot Wheels really have to be gendered? Can’t packaging be redesigned to give off less of a masculine vibe?

There should be pressure brought to bear on those segments of the industry that are stuck in the 1950s, when men mowed the lawns and women vacuumed the carpets. Not that there’s anything wrong with toy lawn mowers or vacuums — as long as they’re not marketed as strictly “boy” or “girl” toys.

The pressure to change should come from consumers, however, who have the power to influence the industry by “voting” with their pocketbooks.

We don’t need the state of California to virtue-signal its interest in child development by passing an unnecessary law that will likely have little, if any, effect.

This editorial reflects the editorial board opinions of The Sacramento Bee, The Fresno Bee, The Modesto Bee, The Tribune in San Luis Obispo and Merced Sun-Star.

This story was originally published December 7, 2023 at 5:00 AM.