Size counts, ladies

What do you think of our new bank notes? They're more colourful for sure, which is nice, and Nelson is giving a lovely, reassuring smile which makes one quite calm. They’re also a tad smaller than our old notes and judging by the latest gender-based marketing trends around the world, this means that our new notes have been designed specifically for women.

Why I’m saying this is because Bic recently launched the For Her range of branded pens. Apparently they’re smaller and so fit better into a woman’s dainty hands. This has all been stated rather seriously by the company.

Another everyday device we didn’t realise needed a his-and-hers version of is laptops. Fujitsu have released the Flora Kiss laptop which has an easy opening catch for users with long fingernails and gold trim on the keyboard. It also has a horoscope application.

Beer has always been dominated by masculine connotations, but that still doesn’t stop me from enjoying a Hansa draft at Rat every so often. Despite this, an American brewery is worried women think they’re not allowed to drink this beverage and have developed “Chick Beer”. It has a pink, sparkly label and contains less bubbles “because women generally aren’t as fond of belching as men are”.

In a world were the lines between gender roles have been considerably blurred, marketers are trying their best at pencilling in their own pre-determined constraints. Looking at all these feminine-focused products, the unifying feature appears to be the colour pink.

Odd that, because back in the 1920s, the accepted rule was that baby boys be dressed in pink and girls in blue. Quoting a 1918 italLadies’ Home Journal/ital article: “The generally accepted rule is pink for the boys, and blue for the girls. The reason is that pink, being a more decided and stronger color, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl”.

I'll leave you with that thought, as well as the news that Honda has released a new car for women. It’s pink, naturally, and the air vents pump out weird perfume that apparently helps lessen wrinkles. If they really wanted to design a car for women, they would’ve put in a secret tampon compartment and a 1.6 engine that can pump out more than 77 kilowatts.