A video of President Barack Obama at a Toys for Tots event in Washington, D.C., earlier this month is attracting attention after he used the occasion to make a point about gender stereotypes.
In the video, Obama is seen placing traditionally-male toys in the girls’ boxes as he helped sort items for the program, telling the crowd, “I’m just trying to break down these gender stereotypes.”
“Girls play t-ball too,” Obama said as he placed a t-ball set in one of the boxes.
The Toys for Tots sorting event has been attended by the First Lady for the last six years, and this was the first year that the president also participated.
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Obama used an annual event to make a point about gender issues again last week when he took questions only from female reporters during his year-end press conference.
“There are many women from a variety of news organizations who day-in and day-out do the hard work of covering the president of the United States,” the president’s spokesman said, according to USA Today. “As the questioner list started to come together, we realized that we had a unique opportunity to highlight the fact.”