Why California now has gender-neutral toy aisles and debate around concept  

California now requires major retailers to have gender-neutral toy aisles. The law, which took effect on 1 January, requires toy retailers “to maintain a gender-neutral section or area to be labelled at the discretion of the retailer.” But what do we know about the law? And what about the debate on gender-neutral toys, clothes and upbringing? Let’s take a closer look: What we know about the law As per CNN, the 2021 bill was introduced by California Assemblymember Evan Low. The bill was passed in September 2021 in a 49-16 vote. It was signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom in October 2021. As per NBC, the law does not mandate that stores remove boy or girl units but simply add sections that would apply to children of all genders.

The law is aimed at retailers who have at least 500 employees in California.

Smaller stores have been exempted, as per NBC. As per National Review, the retailers can label the section “in which a reasonable selection of the items and toys for children that it sells shall be displayed, regardless of whether they have been traditionally marketed for either girls or for boys” at their discretion. Low claimed an eight-year-old girl who asked him “why should a store tell me what a girl’s shirt or toy is?” motivated him to introduce this bill. “Her bill will help children express themselves freely and without bias. We need to let kids be kids,” Low said. “it easier to compare similar items for sale at large retailers without reinforcing gender stereotypes that harm vulnerable children,” Low was quoted as saying by NBC. Those that do not meet the mandate will face a $250 fine. Repeated offenders will be fined as much as $500 for failing to meet the requirement. Some have come out in favour of the law. Like Aleameda toy store owner Helen Dean. Dean told ABC7 in December, “We’re not affected by the law but I saw – yay! It’s not called woke, it’s called American freedom.” “If you look at the packaging you can see the evolution going from kids playing with toys to, ‘Hey we’re going to sell this to a little girl and this is what she is going to want and we know’,” she added. Customer Angelica Guerrero added that “the way we are feeding their minds and the materials we are choosing to use, it is narrowing their ideas and the ability to negotiate the world for them”. What about gender neutrality and the debate around it? The European Institution for Gender Equality defines gender neutrality as a “policy, programme or situation that has no differential positive or negative impact in terms of gender relations or equality between women and men.” According to the United We Care website, gender neutrality is defined as a way of thinking that rejects any ideas about being male or female.

Simply put, it sees no difference in how an individual is viewed as either male or female.

Gender neutrality also means observing people’s actions rather than their biological sex and treating people as individuals and not members of a larger group. “To sum up, gender neutrality is a concept that applies to many different aspects of life, and it is a way to make things more inclusive, fair, and equal. Therefore, it is essential for us today to promote gender neutrality in all aspects of our lives,” the website states. Some say gender-neutral toys will help fully round out a child’s development. “If you want to develop children’s physical, cognitive, academic, musical, and artistic skills, toys that are not strongly gender-typed are more likely to do this,” Judith Elaine Blakemore, author of ‘Characteristics of Boys’ and Girls’ Toys’ was quoted as saying by Hercircle.in. Blakemore argues that toys that cater to either gender may cause traits to develop in children that may be counterproductive. Girls, for example, may end up fixating on the need to be attractive. Boys, meanwhile, may focus on the need to be aggressive. [caption id=“attachment_13577192” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] The bill was signed into law by California governor Gavin Newsom.[/caption] Some parents have taken on gender-neutral parenting. Prerna Chhabra, a parent from Gurugram told IndiaTimes, “We let Zoe play with dolls and action-hero figures. We try to balance everything by providing her with an equivalent so that she can decide what she wants to play with,” said Sanjeebani, a parent from Bangalore, told the outlet she is doing the same for her son Reyansh. The five-year-old is being raised without the prism of gender. She allows him to pick his clothes, choose his toys to play with, what stories he wants to hear. But the law and the concept have its critics. What do critics say? A BBC piece quoted a British psychotherapist Mark Vahrmeyer as saying that some children may not have a positive response to such parenting.

In such a case, they may develop a conflict when it comes to gender identity.

In such an instance, children can embrace gender stereotypes even more firmly. CNN quoted California Family Council president Jonathan Keller as saying, “We should all have compassion for individuals experiencing gender dysphoria. But activists and state legislators have no right to force retailers to espouse government-approved messages about sexuality and gender. It’s a violation of free speech and it’s just plain wrong.” It’s a little crazy. Sacramento seems so content on breaking down the distinctions and differences between men and women, boys and girls. It’s not enough that we are having general-neutral bathrooms, we’re even having to extend that to the toy section,” Keller told ABC7. “I was really stunned, number one, because the author of the bill doesn’t have any children, so he has no idea what it’s like to go to stores scrambling to try to find that toy for your child’s birthday or Christmas, rush home to make dinner or take care of the family. He has no idea, so I was stunned that someone without children was so focused on controlling how I shop for my children,” former California state Senator Melissa Melendez, a Republican, told Fox & Friends. “There are some retailers who have already decided to start doing this, and that’s probably how it should be, rather than the government trying to step in and co-parent with parents in California,” Melendez said. “Let retailers decide what’s best for their customers and what their clientele want, but the last thing we need is for the state legislature in California to decide, ‘Parents, this is how you need to shop for your children’… It’s policies like these that are terrible for people living in California and in any other states are choosing to do this. We don’t need the government trying to co-parent with us.” Greg Burt, vice president California Family Research Council, added that the law violates the First Amendment. “This is government-compelled speech,” he said. “The government is deciding to tell a religious person, could be a Muslim-owned business, that they have to use certain words to advertise toys, and those words might violate the belief systems of that particular Muslim-owned business. “You got the government now dictating the signage in stores, about what words can be used to advertise products. This is opening a Pandora’s Box.” With inputs from agencies