Why do girls play with Barbies and boys with race cars?

Images of a child being born is always coloured by shades of pink and blue. A woman walks into a children's store and lingers momentarily by the dolls, while nearby a man purchasing a gift silently contemplates a toy fire engine or race car. All over the world in any culture, religion or economic state, the sex of a child will effect its upbringing like nothing else. In this essay the toys that will be …

…and also gender schemas. The child itself plays an important role in its own gender development. Children need to make sense of the social world, and need to feel that they belong somewhere in that world (Serbin et al, 1993) (16), and therefore it is no wonder that baby girls grow up to play with Barbie dolls and boys rampage accross the floor making scratches on the tiles as they run after their bright blue race car.