Combatting gender inequality with Jodi Bondi Norgaard

A Q&A with the author of "More Than A Doll: How Creating a Sports Doll Turned into a Fight to End Gender Stereotypes"

Jodi Bondi Norgaard is an entrepreneur, keynote speaker, consultant, feminist advocate, and author of More Than A Doll: How Creating a Sports Doll Turned into a Fight to End Gender Stereotypes. She’s also the founder of Dream Big Toy Company and the creator of the award-winning Go! Go! Sports Girls line of dolls, books, and apps that promote positive messages for girls about healthy eating, sleeping, exercise, and self-esteem.

As a toy industry thought leader, Jodi pushes media and retail to do a better job portraying women and girls beyond stereotypes and served on the White House Gender Policy Council. She’s a contributor to Ms. Magazine and her work has been featured on The Today Show, Forbes, Upworthy, and Advertising Age. In 2016, Jodi was named by Women’s Running as one of 20 Women Who Are Changing the Sport of Running and the World.

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Since 2009, you've been working to break gender stereotypes and promote confidence in girls, especially in relation to sports. How did you get into this work?

My inspirational moment happened in a toy store in 2006 when I was shopping with my then 9-year-old daughter, Grace, who had just finished soccer practice. Her face was pink from exertion, her hair was in messy pigtails, and she was still wearing her shin guards. We were quickly moving through the aisles when a line of dolls grabbed my attention. They were dressed in belly-baring clothing, high heels and makeup. I picked up one of the dolls, and the name on the hangtag was Lovely Lola. I started to pick up other dolls in the line, and there was Dazzlin’ Destiny, Cute Candy, and Sizzlin’ Sue. I thought, “What in the world are we marketing to girls?”

By this point in my life gender inequality and gender stereotyping had been on my radar for years, but I didn’t know what I could do personally to change it. At that moment, I knew. I immediately saw the need for a sports-themed doll that represented the way real girls are growing up and provided an alternative to the sexualized dolls that dominated the toy shelves.

The encounter with Lovely Lola crystallized something I already knew: Our culture, specifically the toy industry, was doing a lousy job providing girls with strong, smart, and powerful images. Maybe I couldn’t change an entire culture, but I could give girls a doll that was a mirror into her real life and celebrated what their bodies can do versus what their bodies look like.

You argue that gender inequality begins the moment a child can hold a toy, a book, or watch a screen. Is there a link between sexism, gender discrimination, toys and media?

I think it’s possible girls have their first “Me Too” moment when we hand them a sexualized doll. The toy industry consistently pushes stereotypes that perpetuate submissiveness and the sexualization of women and girls. Princesses and fashion dolls dominate, and while I’m not against princesses or fashion, they don’t define all girls all the time. But if that’s all they have to play with, we’re limiting their imaginations. And then why would we be surprised that girls drop out of playing sports and lose confidence during puberty?

But if you give a girl a doll that reinforces how she’s valued for her abilities–not her appearance—it could have a ripple effect in her life. And what about boys who grow up with this alternative narrative, rather than seeing girls sit on the sidelines or as the supporting character? That matters, too. Would a girl’s confidence continue to grow throughout her childhood? Would she believe that her gender can do anything? Would equal pay become a non-issue? Would the number of sexual assaults and harassments decrease? Would we see gender equality in our lifetime? How do we know it will change anything until we try? It’s a minor adjustment in our culture that could have magnanimous effects.

How does a lack of diversity in toy corporations affect what’s on the toy shelves and ultimately our children?

White men overwhelmingly make up the C-suite in the toy industry. Without diversity in leadership, there’s a slim chance there will be diversity and inclusion throughout the industry, including the final product they put on store shelves.

This ultimately affects our children because their interests, ambitions and skills can be shaped early on by the toys they play with and media they consume. This ripples far beyond child development; it influences the future workforce and strength of our economy. Toys are nothing to dismiss as “childish playthings.” The programming starts early and the impact is lifelong.

What pushback did you receive from parents, media, and toy buyers after creating a sports doll?

It took two years to go from the rough draft to the launch of the nine Go! Go! Sports Girls plush dolls, which I designed to reflect the correct proportions of a young girl's body. My first sale was at the 2008 US Open Tennis Championship in New York City, where 500 Tennis Girl Gracie dolls sold out in just six days. It was an incredible test run, and I felt like I was onto something. Then, I did over a hundred interviews with bloggers, newspapers, magazines, and television shows, including The Today Show. With each published interview came emails and letters from women all over the country: “Thank you for fighting for our daughters and girls and thank you for providing a much-needed positive-imaged doll.” “I wish the Go! Go! Sports Girls were around when I was younger.”

However, I got a lot of pushback from toy buyers. The rejection response from buyers declining to buy the Go! Go! Sports Girls usually contained the word “fashion.” Most of the feedback from buyers was: “I love your product. My daughter plays soccer, and she would love Soccer Girl, but I can’t buy the Go! Go! Sports Girls because ultimately girls like fashion.” And even when I rattled off research statistics: 17 million girls in the US play a sport; sports and physical activity are associated with greater self-esteem and positive body image; and improved academic achievements and leadership skills, I still heard: “Great idea, but girls like fashion. Can you create a fashion doll?”

As a mother of a daughter and as a woman, I knew girls like more than just fashion. My argument was that girls gravitate toward fashion dolls because 75 brands of fashion dolls are marketed to girls with few other options. How can a girl gravitate toward something that isn’t offered?

In 2023 you helped commission a study about toy diversity from the Geena Davis Institute. What did you learn?

I worked with The Toy Foundation, the philanthropic arm of The Toy Association, a business trade association representing companies involved in youth entertainment, to hire the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media to conduct a study on whether gender norms are reinforced in toys and toy advertising and marketing.

The 33-page report reinforced what I already knew: blatant gender stereotyping exists. But what I wasn’t prepared for was the Toy Association Board of Directors decision not to publicize the report because it showed the toy industry and some key players in a negative light.

Of course, they were not wrong. But who are we protecting? Is that in the best interest of children? After a lot of convincing, they agreed to publicize the report, so long as company names were not published. That experience created more motivation to carry on with my mission, which by now had become two-fold: persisting with the Go! Go! Sports Dolls and fighting to end gender stereotypes in the toy industry.

What do you hope readers take away from your new book?

I want readers to understand that gender equality begins with choices for creative play. We need to take our children’s “play things” seriously; we need to choose carefully and demand more from the toy companies that provide them.

This is also a story about being an entrepreneur, about the maddening process of creating, designing, and bringing a product to market. Looking back, I have a better understanding of how hard that can be when you’re also challenging the status quo and pushing against gender norms that make decision-makers uncomfortable. I also know I’m not the only person who wants more for her daughter; who doesn’t want gender stereotypes limiting boys or girls. I hope this book brings more people alongside me to create change.

Connect with Jodi: Website // Buy the Book // Facebook // Instagram // LinkedIn // Threads @jodibondinorgaard // Bluesky // Substack

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