The British department store chain John Lewis has taken the revolutionary measure of eliminate gender in all children's department clothing, with ages between 0 and 14 years.
In this way, and in order to "Don't reinforce gender stereotypes", it will not be specified if a shirt, pants or a dress is a boy or a girl but it will be the client himself who decides its use. This pioneering initiative has not been accepted equally by all the clients of this British firm.
"Non-specific gender"
When customers step on the children's clothing department of one of the 48 British stores of John Lewis, they will not have to look in the "boy's clothes" or "girl's clothes" section, as all the garments will be labeled as "Boys & Girls or Girls & Boys".
There will continue to be dresses, skirts or floral prints, but the chain wants the client to decide if that garment in their hands will be put to their son or daughter, and Do not be conditioned by what you mark a label.
On the other hand, the company has also created a line of "non-specific gender" With neutral prints such as soldiers, dinosaurs or spaceships, which although they have always been associated with the male gender, now girls can also wear it in their garments.
"We do not want to reinforce gender stereotypes within our collections. Instead, we want to offer more variety to our clients, so that the parent or child can choose what they want" - added Caroline Bettis, director of children's clothing for John Lewis
A measure praised and criticized
These changes, which have not yet been implemented in the online store, have been highly applauded by customers, and in social networks, positive and thankful messages have not been long in coming.
"Many girls do not want to wear princess and pink clothes and not all boys like dinosaur shirts" - says a client on social networks, in favor of this measure.
"No one says that girls cannot wear dresses or that boys should wear dresses. It is only being said that there is no need to segregate a shirt by means of a stereotyped gender" - says another client.
And, for many of its buyers, finding the same type of prints for boys and girls clothes is a great step that fosters gender equality and it takes us away from social stereotypes that still relate boys to the adventurous and girls to beauty.
However, there are those who think they are taking too far the "politically correct" measure, and the Daily Mail states that there are customers who announce that they will boycott the company for making this decision.
"Denying gender differences is crazy! Let's boycott John Lewis" - says a client on social networks.
"Personally, I want to see more traditional clothes. That of" boys "in the" boys "section and that of" girls "in that of girls" - says a mother.
"Why don't we allow girls to be girls and boys to be boys?" - another customer contrary to these changes is asked.
Another aspect that some clients allude to is that if adult clothing is differentiated by genderWhat is negative about doing the same with that of children?
"The labels of" boy "or" girl "is somewhat informative. I think removing them could be very confusing for the consumer (...) I can't imagine many customers buying a dress for their six-year-old child" - denounces the conservative deputy Andrew Bridgen
"Following fashion" without gender "I fear that we are supporting a broader movement that runs the risk of confusing children (...) There is a dangerous social phenomenon that takes place with the theft of gender identity and says no there is a difference between boys and girls when it is clear that there is "- says Chris McGovern, president of the Campaign for a Real Education.
Experts, however, believe that this measure will soon be extended to other clothing and toy chains, and that the general trend will be that of get away from traditional binary tagging in children's product lines.
In our country, three years ago Hipercor had to face criticism from customers and consumer organizations that accused the sentences of sexists "Smart as dad" and "Pretty as mom", from a line of bodies that finally had to be removed.
What is clear is that society is advancing and promoting equality between boys and girls, either through these types of measures, such as those implemented in some schools, advertisements, photographic campaigns or the particular measures that each family Decide to carry out.
And to you, what do you think of this "non-specific gender" clothing initiative that John Lewis has proposed?
Photos via Daily Mail
Via Daily Mail
In Babies and More The bodies that Hipercor has had to remove for sexists, Toys are just that, toys, The reaction of a girl to see sexism in children's clothing, a very reasoned anger that has gone viral, 'A boy You can also ', a campaign that encourages children to get their feminine side, "If I were a toy", the announcement of a chain of toy stores that breaks gender stereotypes
