You’re right in that the public has expectations around what sort of toy they want for either a boy or a girl, and manufacturers are satisfying public expectation and demand by gendering things on that basis. But in doing ao they are also perpetuating and reinforcing gender stereotypes.

To label one ‘car’ and one ‘doll’ would go some way to address this but the question still remains, why do we need to label at all? It’s a surprise egg, why does it matter what is inside?

The answer of course is that either the child or their parents would be dissatisfied if they got a toy they didn’t like.

Which then raises the next question; why wouldn’t the child like it? And the likely answer is because society has taught them what to like and what not to like based on their gender.

And so that’s where we are. Gender norms exist, but we’ll never be free of them until we stop this kind of gendering which perpetuates them.

The ideal world would be one where a child can open an egg and enojoy the toy that comes out, no matter what it is, but we don’t live in that world yet.