Skip to footer

#WheresRey: The Force awakens Hasbro to gender inequality in 'Monopoly'

The "Star Wars" version of Monopoly didn't include 'Rey,' the female lead in the new movie. Hasbro's decision to exclude Rey led to a social media debate, with many fans tweeting under the hashtag #WheresRey.

|
(Film Frame/Disney/Lucasfilm via AP)
Daisy Ridley, as Rey, in a scene from the film, "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," directed by J.J. Abrams.
  • By Michelle R. Smith Associated Press

| Providence, R.I.

The "Star Wars" version of Monopoly will add a game piece based on the female character Rey after an 8-year-old girl wrote to game maker Hasbro complaining about the omission and telling them: "Girls matter."

Carrie Goldman, of Evanston, Illinois, posted a letter on Twitter this week written by her daughter, Annie Rose, asking why Hasbro left out Rey when she is a main character of the latest movie in the series, "Star Wars: The Force Awakens."

The letter begins by asking the company why it would exclude the heroine of the story.

"Without her THERE IS NO FORCE AWAKENS! It awakens in her! And without her, the bad guys would have won! Besides, boys and girls need to see that women can be as strong as men!" she wrote. "Girls matter!"

The original game includes just four pieces, all modeled on male characters: Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Finn and Kylo Ren. The decision to exclude Rey led to a social media debate, with many fans tweeting under the hashtag #WheresRey.

Goldman, an author who has written about toys and gender issues, included the hashtag as she tweeted a picture of her daughter's letter to Hasbro.

Hasbro responded in a tweet of its own two days later.

"We love your passion for Rey and are happy to share that we are including her in the Monopoly: Star Wars game, available later this year," it said.

Julie Duffy, a spokeswoman for the Pawtucket, Rhode Island-based company, said Wednesday that it did not include Rey in the game to avoid revealing a key plot line. The game was released in September, months before the movie was released, though Goldman noted that at the time it was well-known that Rey would be a central character.

Some on Twitter had trouble accepting that explanation.

Goldman said the response to Annie Rose's letter shows she struck a nerve, and people are ready for a change.

"A huge number of the messages I'm getting are from men. This is not a women's issue. It's about representing the hero of this film," she said.

Duffy said anyone who already bought a Rey-less game can contact Hasbro when the updated game comes out and request their own Rey token.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to #WheresRey: The Force awakens Hasbro to gender inequality in 'Monopoly'
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/2016/0107/WheresRey-The-Force-awakens-Hasbro-to-gender-inequality-in-Monopoly
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe