How often have you walked into a baby’s nursery and been able to tell if the baby was a boy or a girl purely based on the colour of the room, toys and clothes?
It’s no wonder that it is never difficult to find the girls’ clothing section in a store; it is most likely going to stand out owing to the various hues and shades of pink. So then the question arises, do women really like pink or is it just associated with them? The answer is – a bit of both.
Studies show that prior to the age of 2 years, and even later, there is not a difference between boys and girls in their preference of objects of various colours. In fact, both genders prefer primary colours such as blue, over pink, brown, grey and other such secondary colours.
But around the age of 2 years, it is found that girls develop a preference for pink and boys start developing avoidance to the colour. The reasons are —
1. My parents dressed me in pink. It’s all I see now!
Chances are, when infants are surrounded by certain colours during infancy, such as having blue clothes, toys, wallpaper etc. for boys and the corresponding pink equivalent for girls, it is highly probable that these children are likely to be partial to these colour choices as they grow up. So really, if you like pink a lot, chances are you wore a lot of pink clothes and played with a lot of pink toys while you were a child!
2. It is who you are, or at least whom you see yourself as.
Studies show that children develop gender-stereotyped colour preferences between the ages of 2-3 years and this is highly dependent on one’s understanding of their gender and the accepted behaviour and social norms related to the gender.
You were likely to have started going to kindergarten/school by then and started discovering and making new friends, boys and girls alike. How you acted and what you did and played were highly directed by what you believed were “girly things” and “boyish things”.
So the explanation for your preference for the colour pink could be as simple as the result of the company you kept and the things you grew up playing with or doing.
3. It’s a marketing gimmick.
I remember wanting my favourite Barbie to have a red and green tea party set, not a pink and white one. But it was only ever available in pink, as was every other Barbie related product.
Ever found yourself wanting “that” dress in a shade of green or blue but only finding it in pink? Here’s why we never got what we wanted. Most brands stick to the “pink is for girls and blue is for boys” adage as a marketing tool in order to increase sales because it is now a socially ingrained idea that the two genders couldn’t possibly want any other colour, especially not as kids!
All said and done, it doesn’t go to say that all women like pink and that pink is for girls/women and blue is for boys/men.
As one grows older, the stereotype one is stuck with changes and has less of a forceful hold on the choices one makes. The times are changing. Men like pink just as much now, if not more than us womenfolk.
And for all parents reading this, give your child the freedom to discover their own likes and preferences! If your daughter likes a blue racecar, let her have it and if your son wants to play with a pink doll, let him play to his heart’s content! They will thank you for the freedom to choose one day.
Bottomline is, pink is just a colour, and it doesn’t define who you are. So this woman’s week, you be who you are – pink or blue or just all the colours of the rainbow!
