The state of California to require gender-neutral marketing in large retail stores.

On Saturday, the state of California became the first U.S state to require large retail stores to displace children’s products like toys and toothbrushes, in a gender-neutral way.

The law still allows for large retailers, with 500 or more employees, to have gender-specific sections but requires that they also have a gender-neutral section. Small retailers are exempt.

Bill 1084 was authored by Assemblyman Evan Low and is the third Bill of its kind, its two predecessors failing in 2019 and 2020.

“Part of it is to make sure if you’re a young girl that you can find a police car, fire truck, a periodic table or a dinosaur,” said Low. “And then similarly, if you’re a boy, if you’re more artistic and want to play with glitter, why not?”

Toys and childcare products in essence are all gender-neutral the issue lies in the marketing. Marketing of children’s products should be mindful of inclusivity and the diversity of the kids they are marketing to.

“We need to stop stigmatizing what’s acceptable for certain genders and just let kids be kids,” said Low. “My hope is this bill encourages more businesses across California and the U.S. to avoid reinforcing harmful and outdated stereotypes.”

The bill is especially important for gender non-conforming kids that don’t identify with the gender they were assigned at birth.

Campbell Leaper, a professor of psychology at UC Santa Cruz, told the Los Angeles Times that children become aware of gender categories as early as three years old and are sensitive to gender-based labels.

“But even for kids that identify with their birth-assigned gender there may be some children who want to play with some of these toys, but then end up avoiding them because they don’t want to be considered abnormal somehow,” said Leaper.

Here’s to hoping California’s Bill 1084 serves as inspiration to Canadian retailers and lawmakers.