I am stunned that this got through Sainsbury's buying process to make it to the shop floor. It's no different to those Janet and John books in the 60s and 70s where John climbs a tree and Janet watches. I hate this, and it makes me sad.

WOW!! I'm shocked that a brand like Lego has continued to perpetuate gender stereotypes in such an obvious way! It's also insulting to those incredibly talent women who are astronauts.

Someone at Lego should be hanging their head in shame for okaying these cards whilst someone issues an apology to all those little girls out there who dream of going to space whilst Lego have just told them "Don't be silly! You just need to get the morning paper and pick up the groceries".

I rarely get so frustrated by these things, but I work in an industry where there is not only a skills shortage but also a shortage of women in technical roles and these cards just go against some of the work being done to try and encourage girls into STEM subjects/industries/roles.

In fact just yesterday myself and our (female) Workshop Manager were discussing the lack of female applicants we receive for our technical roles and were saying that the interest in engineering and science etc. needs to start when children are younger. Cards with these kinds of messages don't help.

I hope the parents out there who buy these cards for their children explain to them that actually "Intergalactic Girl" is just as able to go exploring new planets as Astronaut and that Astronaut is more than capable of picking up his own morning paper and groceries...

That's really disappointing, especially when you consider back in the 1970s how non-gender stereotyped Lego worked at being:

Part of my job is to recruit engineers and we are constantly trying to encourage school age girls to consider engineering, with support from the likes of Equate Scotland - and it's apparent that we need to get message to primary school aged kids that engineering isn't gendered.  This from Lego/Sainsbury's really doesn't help. 

It is absolutely outrageous. Can I ask whether you've followed this up with Sainsburys or Lego, Victoria? I'd be very interested in their justification/response.

In reply to Nina Waters:

Hi Nina,

I have tried to follow up with them via social media but have been surprised to receive no response at all. I should probably add that there are other Lego cards featuring women in professional roles but the astronaut and intergalactic girl are the only roles that I think are comparable.

In reply to Victoria Dmochowski:

I get more and more angry about it as I think about it. 'Intergalactic girl' - what century are we living in? Aside from everything else, there is either a neglect issue (child having to do her own grocery shopping on a different planet) or they have mistakenly forgotten that adult females are women, not girls.

<heads home to send her youngest daughter's Lego card book into outer space>

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?

In reply to Robey:

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.

In reply to Robey:

Hi Robey,

I'm all for a well put together pink outfit, but they definitely could have written her a less gender stereotyped bio, especially based on this new info you have provided us with.

Surely her achievements in saving solar system and rescuing civilisations should be what they shout about in the bio rather than popping to shops to get the paper and fetch the groceries, which I have no doubt she does extremely efficiently.

After all we all need to get the groceries (in fact i'll be doing that on my way home tonight), but in comparison to her other 'achievements' that is probably quite low on the list of things to shout about.

Your description of the character that she is actually supposed to be in Lego world just makes it more sad (and annoying) that they decided to totally overlook this and opted for the bio they used.

I agree it is an unfortunate coincidence that both cards ended up in the same packet as it highlights the differences in the two bios even more, but someone definitely should have questioned that bio in line with their aim to promote positive gender roles for both boys and girls. After all what if Astronaut wanted to get the groceries instead...

In reply to Elizabeth Divver:

I agree. Unfortunately I still see more Johns climbing trees than Janets. ;-[