Wired has an interesting article about a new company,
Goldiebox , who is making
science and engineering toys targeted to young girls . Apparently, this new direction in play-education was not supported by the conventional toy industry, but through crowd-funding Goldiebox was able to break into the mass market and is going like gang-busters. Interesting quote from the CEO: "A lot of the men in the toy industry have daughters, and many of them are tired of what they have to offer their daughters, too."
This. I recall my bafflement when LEGO first announced their "for girls" sets (minifigs with bumps and curves!). To quote one astute father's comment on the subject: "They already have LEGO for girls. They're called LEGO." They had science toys for girls way back when I was a girl and they were called science toys. I had a chemistry set, erector set, real (not toy) microscope, LEGO. There's nothing (or there should be nothing) gendered about these things.
That said, I laud the efforts of any company that attempts to counteract the "girls don't do x" and "boys don't do y" stereotyping that appears to be so overly prevalent in the children's toy industry. While for the moment, at least, it looks like those efforts may need to involve targeting toys in a different-from-the-usual way to shift the status quo, I welcome an end to gender-targeted toys and look forward to a time when children and adults can simply find their own personhood, whatever that might be, and not feel compelled to fit a particular socially-defined role.