Buying Gifts for a Girl Last-Minute? Here’s What to Buy.

“Sephora gift card!!”

“Tiffany necklace?”

“Lululemon?”

These formed the majority of the answers when a woman posted in a online group asking for gift recommendations for her 12-year-old niece for the holidays. Despite that our huge group consisted entirely of women in STEM, the recommendations were overwhelmingly “girly” in the traditional sense.

I noticed the contrast when someone asked for gifts for a tween boy. Instead of recommending things to enhance their appearances, the women recommended skill-building equipment, learning tools, experiences, investments, and fitness aids. Cameras. Binoculars. Golf lessons. National Geographic subscriptions. National park trips. Baseball gloves. Someone suggested a life insurance policy. Apple stock.

While the “girl gifts” serve to make them prettier or to signal higher status (Lululemon yoga pants are sufficient but not necessary to participate in the practice of yoga and became popular because of their proficiency in making one’s posterior appear younger and more toned), the “boy gifts” provide access. To knowledge, to a new hobby or career, to physical fitness and therefore health.

Advertising perpetuates and reinforces gender norms throughout childhood, but it does not mean…