Easy-Bake ovens need to cook up new gender roles

“As mom’s oven changed, so did the Easy-Bake Oven …”

The above quote begins the… “As mom’s oven changed, so did the Easy-Bake Oven …”

The above quote begins the introduction to Hasbro’s brief history of the Easy Bake Oven and Snack Center. This was one of my favorite toys as a child, and it remains a popular children’s toy today. The toy entices young consumers, giving them the chance to make miniature baked goods on their own, including cookies, cakes and candies.

Upon glancing at the pink-and-white oven’s packaging — which features a small blonde showing off an array of colorfully iced sugar cookies — one can tell that Hasbro is targeting young women with its product. Is it possible that the company is promoting conventional gender roles by training girls to become the oven moms of tomorrow?

The traditional oven itself has always been an appliance generally associated with women, in particular, mothers. This association emerged in earlier times, when women served their duties as housewives and mothers. Much progress has been made since then, and, in our society today, women are encouraged to make something of themselves: to go to college, to get “real” jobs.

Nevertheless, there is still the lingering, silent notion that a woman’s place — at dinnertime and on cleaning days, at least — is in the home, more specifically, in the kitchen. The average woman, as successful as she may be, is still often responsible for cooking dinner for her family, baking cookies for the soccer booster’s bake sale and rolling hundreds of meatballs for her child’s graduation party.

A national survey on gender roles reported by The Washington Post notes that, “household duties remain sharply divided along gender lines. Working mothers still do twice as much housework as their husbands.” The study also mentions that, “on average, working mothers do about 20 hours of housework a week.” The Post’s survey reiterates the fact that the average woman still completes an immense amount of traditional household duties, regardless of the intensity of her profession.

The original Easy Bake Oven teaches girls how to bake when they are young. This helps to prepare them for future cooking endeavors that will probably occur once they begin a family. Hasbro makes sure that its female market has the resources they need to get the best kitchen training possible.

The overzealous female baker can head over to Hasbro’s Web site and explore its “Kitchen Tips,” which offer suggestions for cleaning the appliance, as well as measurement conversions and recipes. The site also has suggestions for party planning and calendars to get organized.

Hasbro further establishes gender roles with its new Easy Bake Master Chef/Real Meal Oven, a spin-off of the traditional Easy Bake Oven that allows the user to make “real meals!” The product is a large, blue appliance picturing a boy and a girl on the packaging, and the object itself resembles a grill, rather than an oven. Why is it that, with the introduction of “real food” such as pizza and quiche, a boy — not to mention a traditional boy’s color — can suddenly be brought into the picture?

It’s acceptable for a male to be a chef as long as he isn’t baking. With traditional cooking, there’s no sweet icing or pink sprinkles to destroy masculinity.

Children do not comprehend gender roles. They emulate adult behavior and are easily influenced by advertising. Hasbro’s marketing of its product is unethical, and its Easy Bake Ovens imply traditional gender roles via design and advertising.

Is the Easy Bake Oven a training ground, a foreshadowing of future domestic labor to come for many girls? Why is it not acceptable for boys to bake? And, if our society is so involved in tearing down the barriers established through traditional gender roles, why don’t companies such as Hasbro let our dads have ovens?

Send feedback to ced10@pitt.edu.