Girls are told and encouraged to play with toys centered around household chores and beauty (stoves, toy babies, toy hair salon/accessories etc.) while the boys have building blocks and action figures. The child in the photograph from the library of congress is taken while playing with a washing tub alone outside. The image is a black and white photo with the writing “Children Playing Adults” inked at the top left and the photographer’s name W.E Vilmer inked in the bottom. The effect of the photo being aged and black and white makes the atmosphere look drab and bleak even though it is a bright and sunny day. The artist attempts to capture the little girl enjoying a nice day and the photo shows what kids did to play and entertain themselves back in the 1900s. This image does not persuade or propaganda, anything but instead captures a moment in time that gives us a lot of information about the lifestyle in 1902. The candid image of the girl busily looking and scrubbing away in the tub shows one of the “toys” she had to play with. Everything in miniaturized to accommodate to the size of the girl, showing it was specifically designed as a toy. She has a mini table, mini washboard, mini tub and bucket and she even has a clothing line that is lowered to her height, so that she can practice hanging up the clothes to dry. But in the picture the cloths near …show more content…
The societal views are impressed on the children and mold and shape them in their occupational and familial role they are obligated to play in their future. These toys are used are tools to condition the kids and so it is important to be aware of the kind of toys the kids an exposed to. As kids develop a gender role identity, they tend to exaggerate and conform to gender-role stereotypes of the society. In this process toys act as stepping stones to prepare them for the real world and is an extension of their belief system. Even though the picture of the little girl just shows an aspect of her life almost a century ago, the idea and gender stereotypes have remained fairly consistent till now. As the issue of gender equality becomes more prevalent modern day, people insisted equality start from the toys because of the influence it can have in shaping malleable young