Every toymaker wants to keep up with the times. To emphasize female empowerment, Barbie is releasing an “inspiring women” collection, including Rosa Parks, Amelia Earhart, and Frida Kahlo. Monopoly, not to miss out on the chance to appeal to young feminists, has an idea of its own: a female version of the game.
Step aside, monocled Mr. Monopoly. Ms. Monopoly, Hasbro’s new feminist brainchild and Old Mr. Moneybags’ niece, has arrived. The new game will present women with a feminist utopia, but certainly not one of equality. To make up for real-world pay disparities, women in the new game get preferential treatment: $240 instead of the usual $200 when they pass Go. Female players will also start the game with more cash than their male counterparts.
A Hasbro statement described the game as “a fun new take on the game that creates a world where women have an advantage often enjoyed by men.” It added, “But don’t worry, if men play their cards right, they can make more money too.”
The Ms. Monopoly pay gap differs from the real-world pay differential between the sexes in an important way: Hasbro’s inequality is the result of a rigged system, while the real-world pay gap can be explained almost entirely by women’s choices.
Barring its pay gap rule, which seems targeted toward gathering headlines, the game is not all bad. It may even be inspiring. Per Hasbro’s press release: “Instead of building houses, you build business headquarters. From inventions like WiFi to chocolate chip cookies, solar heating and modern shapewear, Ms. Monopoly celebrates everything from scientific advancements to everyday accessories — all created by women.”
If young girls play Ms. Monopoly without the rules about unequally distributing cash based on gender, they may learn from it — and there’s a long history of players ignoring the official Monopoly rules (such as putting cash under Free Parking). But there was a far more fitting way Hasbro could have made a feminist point.
The game maker could have reminded players that Monopoly is based on The Landlord’s Game, which was designed by artist and inventor Lizzie Magie and patented in 1904. Parker Brothers paid her just $500 to re-brand the game as Monopoly and turn it into a cash cow for the game manufacturer, which then erased her name from its history.
—By Madeline Fry
