There's nothing we love more at HuffPost UK Lifestyle than people standing up to sexism and kicking misogyny in the balls -- especially when that person is just six years old.
A week ago, an unhappy primary school pupil complained to her mother that there simply weren't enough women characters in the game Guess Who? (a pressing issue for a young girl who always likes to imagine she's a female character).
As a result, her mother, Jennifer O'Connell from Ireland, wrote to the board game's manufacturers Hasbro asking why there aren't as many women as men in the popular game.
"It is not only boys who are important, girls are important too," she told the company
According to the mum's blog, her little girl dictated a powerful letter to be sent to the games company.
Unfortunately the toy manufacturer's first response didn't clear up matters, leaving the daughter more confused than ever. The letter failed to explain the imbalance between the sexes (referring to gender as a 'characteristic') and addressed the six-year-old in a bafflingly inappropriate tone.
"As a company that makes toys for children, I would have anticipated you would communicate with your youngest customers in a more direct and child-friendly way," wrote Jennifer, the young girl's mother
Eventually the O'Connells received a child-friendly letter explaining the characters and why there are just five women.
Click here for the full correspondence..
Guess Who? A Sexist Board Game?
First letter sent to Hasbro(01 of04)
Open Image ModalDear Hasbro,My name is R______. I am six years old. I think it's not fair to only have 5 girls in Guess Who and 19 boys. It is not only boys who are important, girls are important too. If grown ups get into thinking that girls are not important they won't give little girls much care.Also if girls want to be a girl in Guess Who they'll always lose against a boy, and it will be harder for them to win. I am cross about that and if you don't fix it soon, my mum could throw Guess Who out.My mum typed this message but I told her what to say. (credit:Alamy)
First response from Hasbro(02 of04)
Open Image ModalDear R___,Thank you for your email. Please find below an explanation which I hope your mummy will be able to explain to you.Guess Who? is a guessing game based on a numerical equation. If you take a look at the characters in the game, you will notice that there are five of any given characteristics. The idea of the game is, that by process of elimination, you narrow down who it isn't, thus determining who it is. The game is not weighted in favour of any particular character, male or female. Another aspect of the game is to draw attention away from using gender or ethnicity as the focal point, and to concentrate on those things that we all have in common, rather than focus on our differences.We hope this information is of help to you.May we thank you for contacting Hasbro and if we can be of any further assistance, either now or in the future, please do not hesitate to contact us again.Kind Regards,ASK HASBRO (credit:Alamy)
Second letter to Hasbro(03 of04)
Open Image ModalDear ___,Thanks for your prompt reply to R__. She has been anxiously watching the post box and checking with me to see if there has been a response to her email, which - I'm sure you understand - it was a very big deal to her to write. Unfortunately, she is now no clearer as to why there are only five female characters for her to choose from in her favourite board game, compared to the 19 male characters her brother can pick. (Obviously, she could choose to be a male character, but as you know, that's not usually how children work). If anything, your response has left her more confused than before. She is a smart girl, but she is only 6 and still in senior infants at primary school, so she is a long way from being able to grasp concepts like numerical equations and weighting.As a company that makes toys for children, I would have anticipated you would communicate with your youngest customers in a more direct and child-friendly way.But I must confess that, despite being 37 years of age and educated to Masters level, I am equally at a loss.Why is female gender regarded as a "characteristic", while male gender is not?Kind regards,Jennifer O'Connell (credit:Alamy)
Second letter from Hasbro(04 of04)
Open Image ModalDear Jennifer,We wanted to get back to you since our email did not fully answer your daughter’s questions. We love to hear from all of our consumers, especially children, so we hope this response will help clear up any questions.Dear R____,We agree that girls are equally as important as boys and want both boys and girls to have fun playing our games. When you play the Guess Who? game, you have the same chance of winning the game whether you picked a card with boy or a card with a girl.We love your suggestion of adding more female characters to the game and we are certainly considering it for the future. In the meantime, you will be pleased to know that we have additional character sheets that we can send out to you in the post if you ask your mum to send us your postal address. Alternatively, you can visit http://www.hasbro.com/games/discover/guesswho/Guess-Who-Characters-en_GB.cfm to download and print additional character sheets so you can have lots of different fun people`s faces to choose from. You will be happy to know that our downloadable sports character sheet includes an equal number of boys and girls.We hope your mum does not throw out your Guess Who game!Please let us know if we can be of any further assistance.Kind Regards,Hasbro Consumer AffairsHasbro UK Ltd (credit:Alamy)
In HuffPost UK Lifestyle's humble opinion, the mother and daughter duo have raised a very good point.
This team has also suffered at the hands of Hasbro when dealt the blow of picking out a female character.
Everyone knows, it's Guess Who? suicide if you get lumbered with Claire or Susan (poor dears).
The first question your opponent will ask is invariably about gender, and if you've got a girl it's pretty much Game Over.
In one fatal swoop all of the 19 male characters will be slapped face-down on the board leaving just five sheepish looking women to fight your corner.