Toy stove

Toy companies create some toys especially for boys and other toys specifically for girls. Today, we recognize many toys as gender specific, and these toys teach children appropriate gender roles and occupations. Antique toys served the same purpose. Manufacturers marketed toy stoves, which first appeared in the 1840s, to young girls. These miniature stoves, which had all of the capabilities of an adult stove, blatantly intended to instill in girls a duty of cooking and homemaking. In the 1916 Hughes Electric Company catalog, a two-page spread advertised a 15-inch electric range, touted as the "Idol of a Million Little Girls" and promised to make young girls "love to cook." Nearly a century has passed, but, even now, Easy-Bake Ovens, with their pretty pinks and purples, are marketed to girls. The message has not changed since the first toy stoves of the 1840s: girls should take an interest in cooking and baking from a young age.