The Greens have announced they want a Senate inquiry to investigate if children’s toys are creating gender stereotypes and contributing towards domestic violence.

Senator Larissa Waters has told Fairfax Media newspapers the inquiry would examine how toys are marketed to boys and girls. 

Associate Professor Cordelia Fine from the University of Melbourne and author of ‘Delusions of Gender’ said the marketing of toys can send a strong message about how boys and girls are supposed to behave and act.

‘What you’re saying to children is boys and girls are so different that you have to play with different toys,’ she told Tom Elliott.

She said studies have shown that children enjoy playing with all toys until roughly the age of three, when they begin to have a firm sense of whether they are male or female. 

Hear Tom Elliott’s interview with Associate Professor Cordelia Fine