So we have a lot of creative freedom within the guidelines, but the questions will remind us of important topics and lead us in the right direction. These are questions rather than answers on how to do things. This checklist is a set of questions to ask ourselves based on our guidelines. So we had workshops around the topic, invited gender experts and also created an internal Unisex Checklist that we use in the production of our products. In the beginning of last year we actively started working on a process to become even better at making gender neutral products. Q: Could you share a few examples of how Toca Boca embraces gender neutrality through its products?Ī: As we believe that no kid (or parent) should feel that a Toca Boca app is not for them because of gendered signals in marketing, packaging or the overall feeling of the app, the gender neutrality aspect is something that we constantly work with in the design process when making our products. That’s how we see it, and it seems to be really appreciated by families and kids. Do you think they should do anything different?Ī: As a leading developer of digital toys it is our obligation to offer diverse products. Q: Some companies have great commercial success with gender-targeted toys. And we believe that girls and boys, brothers and sisters want to play together! We believe this is limiting to kids, not to be able to decide on your own what your interests are, and that gender-targeted toys create an unnecessary barrier between girls and boys. We know that when a toy reaches a child a choice has already been made for them, someone has picked a blue or pink toy, an action figure or a doll. But kids of today are fostered into watching different shows and playing with different toys according to their gender. Q: Why should parents care whether their kids play with toys designed to target their gender?Ī: Toys have a large impact on how kids play together and relate to other kids. When we do the play-testing sessions, which is something that we do continually throughout the production phase, we look more to the different interactions and reactions of the products and try to solve interactional difficulties that we see the kids are having in a way that supports as many ways of interacting with the app as possible. Do you see any differences in how boys and girls interact with Toca Boca products?Ī: There are as many differences in how kids interact with our products as there are are individuals. Q: Toca Boca does a lot of play testing with kids. In one, a UK research firm called Kids Industries did a test in which boys and girls alike enjoyed playing Toca Hair Salon 2, while boys were less inclined to play other hair shaping activities such as dolls or mannequins. Studies by other companies suggest that Toca Boca is one of few play companies that offer gender-neutral toys to kids. You can use the same hair colors, styling tools and accessories, and there’s a wide range to choose from - including what’s considered to be feminine and masculine. And all the characters have the same possibilities. You can also style the hair of two guys and two characters that are more androgynous. In Toca Hair Salon, there are not only women that you can style, which would be the case in most conventional hairstyling apps, toy sets and games. One example of when we’ve done this is with Toca Hair Salon. But instead we try to challenge these themes and try to make sure it’s inclusive even to the non-traditional gender target group. One could argue that some themes are so traditionally targeted toward one gender that you wouldn’t want to work with that theme, since it would only build on what’s already done in that category. Q: Do you know whether certain Toca Boca apps are more popular with one gender?Ī: Of course there are themes that are traditionally looked upon as being more popular among one gender, but we always try to work with how we can make these themes appealing to all genders. In order to achieve equality between the sexes we think it is important to give girls and boys the same opportunities when growing up. Where does this value come from?Ī: It comes from the belief in equal rights, and that no child should feel excluded or limited from the products that we make. Q: Toca Boca’s toys are described on as being gender neutral. Toca Magazine sat down with Mathilda Engman, head of merchandise and collaborations for Toca Boca, to chat about the company’s approach to building gender-neutral toys.
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