What do mini-figs do on holidays? Part 2

In Part 1, I primarily looked at the Leisure sub-theme sets that came with a single mini-fig. But what about the sets with more than one mini-fig. This blog will look at how mini-figs holiday when they aren’t travelling solo.

Unlike the single mini-fig sets, the difference in gender of mini-figs is less pronounced in sets with more than one mini-fig. This is not entirely unsurprising given my previous analysis where the more mini-figs in the set, the greater the chance the set will have females in it. Although there remains more male than female mini-figs, the difference is much less pronounced. Compared to 1:15 in single mini-fig sets, the ratio reduces to 1:1.7 in sets with more than one mini-fig.

Although a reduction in the female to male mini-fig ratio is a positive one, simply looking at the number of mini-figs in each set will only provide some of the picture about gender equality in Lego Town’s sub-theme, Leisure. I will now look at how these multiple mini-fig sets either challenge or reinforce gender stereotypes and cultural gender norm in line with one mini-fig Leisure sets.

As a proxy for measuring whether the mini-figs are challenging or reinforcing gender norms, I have used the distinction of whether the mini-fig is considered to be active or passive. Although an imperfect proxy, females are often presented as being passive whilst men are presented as being active. Young girls are expected to sit and listen or play quietly, young boys on the other hand are often allowed, if not unconsciously encouraged, to be rowdy and rambunctious playing outside. This difference is often continued throughout life, where females are depicted, or rather expected, to sit around talking and gossiping with others whilst men run around kicking a football, or more commonly these days cycling.   

As can be seen in this chart, there is a large amount of variation between whether a mini-fig is considered to be active or passive and the total number of mini-figs in the set. The single female in a one mini-fig set is considered to be passive where as only one of the 15 male mini-figs in one mini-fig sets are considered to be passive. Further although, all female mini-figs in three mini-fig sets are considered to be active, there is only a total of two female mini-figs in these sets compared to a total of 15 male mini-figs.

As shown above, there is a relative balance between active and passive male mini-figs in direct contrast to the lack of any balance for female mini-figs. As such, for Leisure themed sets, in addition to there being far fewer female mini-figs, female mini-figs are also more likely to be presented as passive. This reinforces cultural and societal norms about gender roles. 

Carrying on from these findings, there appears to be a correlation between the type of leisure activity and the number of mini-figs in the set. There is a shift from adrenaline-filled active leisure activities to recuperation and passive activities when the number of mini-figs in the set increases from one to two. Interestingly it is these sets that include almost a 1:1 ratio of female to male mini-figs. As such, when there are more than one mini-fig in the set, the likelihood of a female mini-fig being included increases but the likelihood of mini-figs engaging in an active leisure activity decreases.

Further emphasizing this point is that in three and four mini-fig sets, there is a shift back to more adventurous leisure activities such as wave jumpers, river runners and a surfing shack. But with this shift, there is a decrease in the number of female mini-figs, back to a ratio of 1:3.5 for three mini-fig sets and 1:2 for four mini-fig sets.