http://lego.gizmodo.com/meet-the-first-female-lego-minifig-scientist-1244704180
To add a (very) tiny bright spot to last weeks discussion of toys, Lego released the first mini figurine of a female scientist. According to this article most all of the Lego figurines in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics are (unsurprisingly) male (there's a link in the article that deals with the gender gap in Lego figurines). Although Lego figurines relating to space were released in the 70s, the first female astronaut figurine wasn't produced until the 90s. I was feeling pretty darn happy about the new female scientist Lego until I looked at the other new Legos released. They included an island warrior, a mountain climber, a barbarian, an evil "mech", and a constable, all of which were male and carrying some sort of weapon. The female characters released alone with the female scientist were a grandma with a basket and a cat, a diner waitress carrying ice cream, a pink cheery looking lady robot, and a "pretzel girl" carrying, you guessed it, a pretzel. Sigh. Baby steps.
As sad as it is that it's taken this long to produce one Lego woman in a scientific field, it's awesome that it's finally happened, though they completely killed the vibe by making all of the other Lego women work in some kind of domestic role... One step forward...3 steps back.
ReplyDeleteI love the scientist lego! I'm all for baby steps versus no steps at all!
ReplyDeleteI want so badly to be fully on board with this female scientist lego, but look at her facial expression! She looks so angry/evil/manipulative/something. I'm not sure what the faces of other lego people look like, because I'm not super familiar with the newest versions, but I feel like this representation perpetuates the stereotype that a woman in a high-power position or with a successful career in typically male-dominated fields are mean or "a bitch." Maybe it's just because scientists are supposed to be mean or something, but I'm not particularly happy with the representation they used. Especially when all the other female characters look so happy and cheerful.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete