Ms. Monopoly
This isn't a step forward, it’s insulting to women because it’s assumed they need an advantage to win.
Hasbro recently announced the release of a new version of Monopoly where female players receive $1,900 at the beginning of the game instead of $1,500 for male players. Females also receive $240 each time they pass "Go" on the board. Males receive $200.
While I understand this is a board game intended for people ages eight and older and that it's probably meant to be played by women, I'm confused: Why $400 more for the women? Why $40 more with each rounding of the board? Furthermore, how exactly is the Hasbro corporation defining "woman"? This version of Monopoly seems to teach gender discrimination rather than equal opportunity.
Ms. Monopoly's goal is to invest in female entrepreneurs. The box is adorned with a woman in a sassy stance, in a blazer holding a coffee, and reads: "The first game where women make more than men." The rules of Ms. Monopoly may be well-intentioned, but since Ms. Monopoly doesn't address the causes of the 'gender wage gap,' don't these rules suggest women need a head start simply because they're, well, women? Are they doing this because women need to be overcompensated because they are not as productive as men?
It seems unhelpful to portray women as needing unique advantages. Why not start the game where women are to be treated as equals and with respect? In what way is it "empowering" if you create a game where one side gets a leg-up over the competition before beginning the contest? Is this new game saying the female players are inept or worse than their male competitors, so they need an extra advantage? This feeds the same old stereotype of the weaker sex.
This new version of Monopoly is a bad idea. If families that purchase this game have little boys, how do you think they feel about their sisters getting an advantage just by being girls? The original game was gender-neutral. Why does one sex need extra help with this version? Can't women and girls win the game on their own merits?
Although Hasbro's new game is supposed to empower women and girls, it fails to recognize Lizzie Magie, the woman behind the invention. Magie received a patent in 1904 for an innovation she called 'The Landlord's Game,' which set the rules for modern-day Monopoly. Many historians suggest Magie was the creator of Monopoly.
However, Hasbro says an unemployed man named Charles Darrow invented the capitalistic game as a distraction from the hopeless days of the Great Depression. Versions of Lizzie Magie's game were played by Quakers living in Atlantic City. Darrow came into contact with the Quakers and later copied the game. He then sold it to Parker Bros. in 1935.
The origin story of Monopoly is an overlooked chapter of American capitalism. Perhaps it mimics the often cruel nature of the board game itself; Monopoly made entertainment out of exploitation. In the end, Magie earned a mere five hundred dollars for her game and, after years of performing secretarial work in obscurity, died in 1948.
It's ironic how the original game, seeded by the ideas of a woman, argued against inequality. Perhaps Hasbro might have had a better shot at championing women's empowerment by admitting that a woman invented Monopoly in the first place.
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I was the drummer in the original off-Broadway version of the show back in 2001. I am curious to see how they adapt the musical for the screen. The show was pretty damn amazing. I’m sure this will be just as good.
Clayton Craddock is a father, independent thinker, and the founder and publisher of the social and political commentary newsletter Think Things Through and host of the Think Things Through Podcast.
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