Justice

5-Year-Old Girl's Letter Calls Out a Major Clothing Store on a Big Issue

March 17th 2017

After stepping into Gap Kids and being disappointed by the lack of superhero characters for girls, in addition to the overwhelming pink on the girls clothing, one 5-year-old girl decided to write the company a letter.

Alice Jacob, dictated the letter addressed to The Gap to her mom, Beth, who wrote it. The mom explained how her daughter was taking a stand against the store's gendered clothing, in an op-ed for The Washington Post on March 6.

"As anyone who’s been in a major retailer recently can tell you, it’s slim pickings out there for girls who love Batman and Diplodocus. And if you’re a boy who loves ballet or slogans 'love makes the world go round?' Well, that one pretty much answers itself," the mom wrote for The Washington Post. The letter, which was obtained by The Huffington Post on Thursday, was signed by Alice and included a creative drawing, too.

"All your girl shirts are pink and princesses and stuff like that. The boys' shirts are really cool. They have Superman, Batman, rock-and-roll and sports. What about girls who like those things like me, and my friend Olivia?" Alice wrote in the letter. ATTN: reached out to The Gap and will update the story when we hear back.

At the end of the letter, Alice made a simple request for the major retailer:

"Can you make some cool girls’ shirts please? Or, can you make a 'no boys or girls' section — only a kids' section?"

This isn't the first major company to receive backlash for gendered products. In June 2015, a mom named Abi Bechtel tweeted a sign at a Target store that made the difference between the girls and boys toys:

"People are talking about the boxes we put people in, especially kids. There’s so much we teach kids about what to do and how to be that is based on gender," Bechtel told ATTN: in August 2015.

This also isn't the first time The Gap was accused of gender stereotyping its products. In August, Gap Kids U.K. sent out an email that marketed T-shirts to boys designed with the graphic "The Little Scholar" while the T-shirts aimed at girls read "The Social Butterfly."

"[Gendered clothing] encourages very young children — as young as 2 — to judge and interact with others in highly stereotyped ways. We know, based on nearly 50 years of social science research, that stereotyped thinking hurts all of us, whether we are dealing with racial, gender, or any other form of stereotype," Jo B. Paoletti, professor of American Studies at the University of Maryland and author of books on gender studies, told The Associated Press in July.

GapKids InstagramGapKids/Instagram - instagram.com

To quote one Instagram comment from The Gap Kids Instagram page (above), "where is all the superhero clothing and accessories for girls? Your hero page shows kitten ears, bunny shoes, and tutus for girls and actually superhero brands for boys, what's the deal? It's pretty disappointing for all those strong girls out there."

Check out Alice's letter to The Gap below:

Alice Jacob Gap letterBeth Jacob/The Huffington Post - huffingtonpost.com

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