Ms Monopoly: Is this new ‘feminist’ game reinforcing stereotypes?

KARACHI: The game Monopoly was derived from The Landlord’s Game invented by game designer Lizzie Maggie in 1903. The initial inspiration of the game was based on the economic concept of monopoly whereby a single company/entity within the market dominates all other competition.  The game was then published by the Parker Brothers in 1935 which the game began to gain it’s popularity from.

In the 1936 (onward) US version of the game there were a few design changes made to the Monopoly board such as graphics of a treasure chest and a new Monopoly character that became known as “Uncle Penny Bags” was added to the display of the box. It has been almost a century since the advent of the game and the informed decision by Hasbro Inc., the current owners of Monopoly, to provide a new take to the game by introducing a new mascot, Ms. Monopoly.

Ms. Monopoly is a brunette who is the supposed niece of Mr. Monopoly whose mission is to “invest in female entrepreneurs,” said Hasbro in a statement, according to a report by Los Angeles Times. 

Many have taken it as a shock at the new face of the game that they are traditionally so used to seeing/identifying but others are voicing that a woman should have been the face of the game from the beginning since a woman invented it!

Users have taken to Twitter to voice their opinions on the game with some stating that its almost ridiculous that the entire game is seemingly sexist since the locations are stereotypical such as “Modern Shapewear” and “Hairbrush”, because all women are interested in are looks.