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Spain moves to end gender stereotypes in toy adverts

Spanish toy makers agreed Wednesday to end gender stereotypes in their adverts and vowed to stop featuring boys exclusively with cars and soldiers, and girls playing with dolls.

Published: 28 April 2022 09:36 CEST

Spain moves to end gender stereotypes in toy adverts

Several other European nations, including France and Britain, have in recent years adopted similar moves to end gender stereotyping in adverts for toys.(Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP)

The code of conduct it agreed with Spain’s leftist government aims to “avoid biases and gender roles and the sexualised representation of girls,” the Consumer Affairs Ministry said in a statement.

It will come into effect on December 1st, just before Christmas when toys fly off shop shelves.

The protocol will prohibit the “exclusive association” of girls with toys that reproduce roles of “caregiving, domestic work or beauty” and boys with “action, physical activity or technology”.

“Toys will not be presented with the express or tacit indication that they are for one gender or another nor will colour associations be made (such as pink for girls and blue for boys),” the statement added.

The agreement was signed between the government, the Spanish Association of Toy Manufacturers and Autocontrol, an independent advertising self-regulatory organisation.

In December the consumer affairs ministry staged a symbolic “strike” by toys at a Madrid park to protest against gender stereotypes.

Consumer Affairs Minister Alberto Garzón has sparked controversy in the past by calling on Spaniards to eat less meat and banning advertising for sweets aimed at children in a bid to fight obesity.

Several other European nations, including France and Britain, have in recent years adopted similar moves to end gender stereotyping in adverts for toys.

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Record 850,000 people waiting to have an operation in Spain

According to recent data published by Spain’s Ministry of Health, there has been a 7.1 percent increase in the number of people waiting for these elective surgeries compared to in December 2022.

The average waiting time across the National Health System in Spain was 128 days.

Data also revealed that 24.3 percent of patients had been on the waiting list for more than six months.

Average waiting times have increased by eight days compared to the same time last year and the percentage of patients waiting more than six months has increased by 3.5 points compared to December 2022.

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The total number on the waiting list has also increased in the last six months, compared to June 2023, when the total stood at 819,964 patients. Then, the average waiting time was 112 days, 16 less than in December of the same year.

The numbers have changed drastically since the Covid-19 pandemic. For example, in December 2018, the number of patients on the waiting list was 668,228. This means the figure has increased by 27.1 percent in five years. The average waiting time then, however, was 129 days, one more than in December 2023.

Marciano Sánchez, president of the Association for Defence of Public Health said: “The problem is not being addressed seriously. During the pandemic, everyone remembers that the government and the autonomous communities assured us that a very clear conclusion had been drawn, that the health system had to be strengthened, and that a firm commitment to health had to be made”.

READ ALSO: Why Spain is running out of doctors

“Unfortunately, this has not been done,” he added.

Traumatology had the highest number of patients waiting for surgery 206,375, a number that has grown compared to the 190,990 a year ago.

This was followed by Ophthalmology (177,844, compared to 172,093 a year ago) and General and Digestive Surgery (156,254).

Like the previous year, the specialty that had the fewest people waiting was thoracic surgery (2,450 people). This figure is very close to that of December 2022, when 2,418 patients were waiting.

The specialty with the longest average waiting time continues to be plastic surgery with 239 days, followed by neurosurgery with 213 days and traumatology, where patients have been waiting an average of 149 days.

Extremadura was the region with the longest average waiting time for elective surgeries with 181 days, followed by Andalusia with 174 and Cantabria with 173 days.

In the Canary Islands, the figure stood at 147 days and, in Aragón, at 146. All of them exceeded the national average wait, which is 128 days.

The regions with the shortest waiting times were Madrid with 51 days, the Basque Country with 63, Galicia with 67 and Valencia with 88.

READ ALSO: Does permanent residency in Spain equal free public healthcare?

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