Championing better work for men and better shopping for women

 I was delighted to be given a pack of Lego cards by a colleague who shopped at Sainsbury's this morning. We were both surprised to see these two cards in the pack and in an office where we really do champion better work and working lives, we've discussed the career of intergalactic girl compared to the astronaut.

Are we overreacting or is it reasonable to think that in the 21st century, women might have more to do in space than shop while men are out discovering planets? If the two cards hadn't been in the same packet, I probably wouldn't have noticed the difference in 'jobs' but now that I have, I can't unsee it.

Thoughts?

Parents
  • I'd like to step in for Lego, here, because there is a risk that you are comparing apples and oranges.

    "Intergalactic Girl" is a Lego superhero-style character from a setting in the far future where she "has single-handedly saved solar systems from black holes, rescued civilizations from cosmic conquerors and captured entire fleets of Blacktron battle cruisers".

    Meanwhile, the "Astronaut" figure is a shout-back to the 1980s Lego Space range (notice that his flag carries the classic Lego Space logo) and is intended to be more of a 1960s Space Race kind of figure.

    Lego has long promoted positive gender role models for both men and women and their range includes the "Women of Nasa" boxed set that specifically recognizes and celebrates real-life female scientists and astronauts who made invaluable contributions to science and space exploration.

    I think it's really just an unfortunate coincidence that these two characters have appeared alongside each other as if they were supposed to be two sides of one coin. In fact, they are different coins entirely.

    Of course, the fact that Intergalactic Girl has a pink space suit raises an eyebrow, but if this alien-conquering, world-saving superhero thinks she looks great in pink, who am I to disagree?
  • Hi Robey,
    I see you've done a bit of background digging into their roles. The cards don't show any of their detailed bio so it's unlikely that kids are going to know this. (Also, grown-ups might not find this out before we toss the books out in protest.) Comparing card to card is still... well... a bit vacuous.
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