After the interview stage, I found that games could be used to promote gender equality education, so at this stage, I tried to do brainstorming and field research. The primary purpose was to know how to use games to introduce the concept of gender equality to children. Field Research may help me know how to design a game and apply it in school and home.
At the Practical Review stage, I found that there are many gender equality education games from different countries on the market; so at this stage, I need to analyze in detail that how to play these games; the structure of these games. And how to allow players to participate in games.
Finding
In the research, I found that gender equality games on the market are roughly divided into two kinds. The first category is for adult players of the game. Moreover, the game shows the current phenomenon of the inequality of male and female in the world, such as embodied in the men's and women's pay, and other blatantly sexist questions related to women, both in the workplace or in the life. These games mainly to allow people who play this game to get a feel for the same dilemmas that women face in their everyday lives.
In addition, the gender equality game design for children aim to help children observe different types of discrimination, see how an equalitarian world might be and get a chance to talk about gender equality. On the investigation of existing games on the market, I understand that the designer should adjust the game's difficulty according to game players' cognition level of the world. For example, if my target user is children, I need to reduce the game's difficulty, and the rules of the game cannot be too complicated to understand. Furthermore, the rule of the game should follow the users' mental models. Finally, I hope my game can instil an awareness of gender equality in kindergarten children.
Field Research
I went to six toy stores（SISYPHE Bookshop / Toys“R”Us China / Dingdang Art Area / Child Fun Bookshop,etc.) to continue the field research. At this stage, I learned about the types of toys sold in toy store and the popularity of toys. Surprisingly, I found that Toys R Us has separate shopping categories for girls and boys. Salespeople pushed products aimed at either girls or boys and this marketing strategy doomed to reinforce our stereotypes about what little girls and boys are made of.
Moreover, I also know that most board game that toy store sold are relevant to “Body Discovery" as well as "Professional Cognition". They are intended for children aged three and up and these game contains magnets or magnetic components to help children DIY in a easy way. However, the salespeople told me that these kind of board games didn't sell very well, so they were basically put on the back row of the shelf.
In order to get more information, I did a unstructured interview with a saleswomen in Toys R Us:
I created a comfortable environment that allow saleswomen talk about some thoughts; the goal of this interview was to gather more insights.
1. Hi. Would you like to introduce the most popular game here to me? And why they are popular?
First of all, the most popular games should be those related to cartoons, such as Tomos & Friends. After watching this cartoon, many children may want to buy similar toys. The second one should be games that improve children's hands and numeracy, an increasing number of logic games are designed as parents pay attention to their children's preschool education.
First of all, the most popular games should be those related to cartoons, such as Tomos & Friends. After watching this cartoon, many children may want to buy similar toys. The second one should be games that improve children's hands and numeracy, an increasing number of logic games are designed as parents pay attention to their children's preschool education.
2. How do you recommend toys to your guests I would ask the guest whether to buy a gift for someone or for their child; what kind of toy they want to buy. And before I recommend the product to them, I would need to know the gender and age of the child. If it’s for a boy, maybe consider these toy cars or this space set.’ Or ‘here we have this line of products for little girls’, and there are these toy animals with very cute big eyes, or toy dolls that go into a house.
3. Do you think the color and placement of toys in Toys“R”Us China are separate for grils and boys? We didn't divide the area into boys' and girls' areas explicitly, but the Mini Home Area and the Doll Area will be combined, because girls prefer to play with these toys. Similarly, the Robot Area will also combine with the Lego Area.
The"Girl Area"
The "Boy Area"
Finding
1. From the research, I found those toy products being too targeted towards one gender or another. Toys "R" Us China catalogue is a good example of this. A pink section at the top of the page is where products aimed at girls can be found, with girls modelling the outfits, while below in the blue section are the boys' products, modelled by little boys.
2.It is hard to see games related to the concept of gender equality in education, but there are some games that aim to help children understand their bodies.
In the mean time, I found relevant research reports to support my findings:
1. YouGov, the world’s leading online research firm, polled over 10,000 people across the Asia Pacific to find out.
Nearly half of APAC residents (45%) believe children’s toys are too gendered; just one in five (19%) disagree. There is an even broader consensus around which types of toys children should play with; 70% of those polled believe it’s important for children to play with a wide range of toys and not just those that are considered gender specific.
Less than 30% of people believe trucks/cars are suitable toys for girls
However, when respondents were asked specifically about which toys were suitable for different genders, the responses were far less progressive. Only slightly more than one in ten of the respondents (13%) think Barbie is suitable for boys to play, while just a quarter of those polled believe that it is suitable for boys to be playing with either an easy bake oven (26%) or a tea set (23%). By contrast, more than nine in ten (91%) believe Barbie is suitable for girls to play, while three-quarters (74%) of people feel it is suitable for girls to play with an easy bake oven or a tea set.
Of the nine countries polled, Australia is the only country polled where the majority of respondents would either be very likely or somewhat likely to let a boy play with a Barbie doll (50%), an easy bake Oven (62%) or a tea set (57%). At the other end of the spectrum, Indonesia is the only country where a majority believe that it is either very unlikely or somewhat unlikely they would allow a boy to play with a Barbie doll (69%), a tea set (56%) or an easy bake oven (53%).
It is not just boys that are limited in the variety of toys that people deem suitable. While trucks/car are considered the toy most suitable for boys (85% of those polled think it is an appropriate toy for a boy), just 29% of those polled believe that trucks/cars are suitable toys for girls to play with.
Of the toys surveyed, Lego is the only toy that the majority of respondents feel suitable for both boys and girls. However, it is still seen to be significantly more suitable for boys, with 79% of respondents believing Lego is a suitable toy for boys, compared to 55% for girls.
2. Children can learn new skills and develop intelligence through exposure to different types of toys. For example, Cooking Game can train children's cognitive sequence of events and early language skills. Lego can train children's sense of space and lay the foundation for future learning of mathematical principles. However, in many cases, boys' and girls' toys are always clearly divided;this situiation will limit children's toy choices and affect children's physical, mental, and future development.
For instance, boys opt to play with more complex puzzles—and get more spatially related encouragement from their parents. Parents are more likely to use words that foster spatial thinking—tall, big, edge, top, and bottom—when their children play with more challenging puzzles. Spatial skills are a piece of the explanation for the underrepresentation of women in science and tech; informal activities like play are crucial to developing spatial skills. If girls only play the game, which is "design for them", the way they play may affect how their brains develop and skill develop.