The Women+s Brick Initiative (WBI) research contributor team is excited to share some fascinating research results! From March through November 2024, members of WBI’s volunteer contributor team participated in a variety of conventions, either Adult Fan of LEGO (AFOL) Networking Events (ANE) such as Bricks Cascade in Portland, Oregon (USA) or BrickCon in Bellevue, Washington (USA), or those focused on celebrating women and girls in typically underrepresented fields, such as GeekGirlCon in Seattle, Washington (USA). Convention, panel, and workshop attendees were encouraged to participate in a WBI survey focused on demographics and on their own creative journey within the LEGO hobby. The purpose of the survey was to learn more about the experiences of especially women and girls and identify potential concerns of marginalized people within the LEGO hobby.
The survey was presented at Bricks Cascade 2024 in Portland, Oregon (USA), BrickCan 2024 in Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada), BrickCon 2024 in Bellevue, Washington (USA), and GeekGirlCon 2024 in Seattle, Washington (USA) and broken into several sections:
- Demographics: preferred pronouns, home region (city, state, and country), LEGO User Group (LUG) membership, age bracket, and how long participants had been participating in the LEGO hobby.
- Favorite LEGO Products and Activities: favorite way to use the medium of LEGO, favorite ways to enjoy official LEGO sets, and which LEGO themes appealed the most to participants.
- Motivation and Concerns: what inspires participants’ creativity, specific inspirational women internal and external to the LEGO hobby, identifying how women within the LEGO hobby have made participants feel empowered and supported, biggest changes noticed by participants within the LEGO hobby and how they felt about those changes, participants’ perception of the most challenging aspects of being a woman within the LEGO hobby, and what participants would like to see in the future for women and girls within the LEGO hobby.
Because this post is very lengthy and includes lots of images, we have created a PDF version of this article that you can download to enjoy this research offline at your own pace. Please follow this link here to the downloadable file (link redirects to the document storage location on Google Drive):
Google Drive: 2024 WBI Community Research Survey Downloadable PDF
Demographics
Survey respondents included people from eight countries, including Australia, Canada, Croatia, Germany, the Netherlands, Scotland, the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States of America (USA), with women accounting for 88.5%, men 8%, and non-gender specified at 3.4%. As the main purpose of this survey was to learn more about how women and girls participate in the LEGO hobby, the high percentage of women respondents was very beneficial.
The next portion of demographics focused on age, with five brackets of choices:
- 13-17 years old
- 18-29 years old
- 30-39 years old
- 40-49 years old
- 50-59 years old
- 60+ years old
The age break down demonstrated some interesting trends after analysis. Of the women who participated in the survey, 5% were 13-17, 10% were 18-29, 10% were 30-39, 35% were 40-49, 26% were 50-59, and 13% were over 60. Even though many aspects of the LEGO hobby are perceived to be dominated by men, 74% of the women respondents were over 40 years old, which shows women truly have been in the hobby from the beginning, even though the social perception is different. Even more interesting, when the data is correlated with how long participants had been involved in the LEGO hobby, potentially 44% of the women have been involved in the LEGO hobby for over half their lives.
This information was established analyzing and correlating participant ages and how long they’ve been involved in the LEGO hobby. In all age brackets, the time within the hobby has five choices: 1-2 years, 3-5 years, 6-10 years, 11-25 years, and 26+ years. If a survey respondent is 13 years old and they chose 6-10 years, that’s well over half their life. If they were 18-29 years old, half of an 18 year old’s life is 9 years, therefore 6-10 years, 11-25 years, and 26+ years could all potentially be over half their lives, depending on the precise age of the respondent. As all three categories /could/ yield a “half life” response, they were counted.
The next category in demographics involved women’s participation in LEGO User Groups (LUGs). 43% of women in seven countries (Australia, Canada, Croatia, Germany, Scotland, UK, and the USA) were not involved in any LUG, while 35% were involved with one LUG, and 22% were involved with multiple LUGs. As a note, the WBI was listed in 20% of the respondents’ LUGs, with 4% stating WBI was their only LUG.
Favorite LEGO Products and Activities
One of WBI’s goals is to challenge bias in the LEGO community. One form of bias that is especially common at LEGO Networking Events suggests that people who build with LEGO, especially those who build their own creations (commonly referred to as “My Own Creations or MOCs) are more important or authentic LEGO fans than people who enjoy the LEGO medium in other ways. To help dispel this notion, we asked our survey respondents the following question. “What is your favorite way to use the medium of LEGO?” The answers show that while “building” is the most common response, it is by no means a monolithic way for LEGO fans to interact with the brick. See the responses below. (STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.)
Of course, LEGO fans universally speak the common language that is a love of LEGO sets. Sets can be big or small, expensive or affordable, designed for display or for play. We know our community members purchase, use, and experience sets in a wide variety of manners, so we listed the most common use cases as options for the next question. Here’s what our survey respondents picked when asked “What are your favorite ways to enjoy official LEGO sets?”
Next, we asked our respondents “Which of these popular LEGO themes and genres appeals to you the most?” The multiple choice options were as follows. While we recognize this list is neither a series of official LEGO product lines nor an exhaustive list of genres within the hobby, we aimed to offer common and popular themes based on historical research in this area.
- Architecture
- Art
- Bionicle and Hero Factory
- Botanicals
- Castle and Pirate
- City and Town
- Creator
- Creatures and Characters
- Fantasy
- Historical
- Microscale
- Pop Culture
- Space
- Technic
- Mecha, Machines, or Steampunk
- Vehicles
The results were placed in the box plot below, where the size of the box represents how many respondents selected each LEGO theme.
Motivations and Concerns
After asking these fun LEGO questions to understand our survey respondents’ creative preferences, preferred interactions with official LEGO sets, and favorite LEGO themes, we introduced a series of long-form response questions that encouraged survey respondents to share their own words, rather than selecting from preset response choices. Admittedly, this method of surveying requires much more work on the backend for the researchers, and in order to extract group data, each long-form response must be somewhat interpreted and translated. Acknowledging this, the researchers read each answer carefully and derived commonalities between responses. All work was performed by humans and no Artificial Intelligence (AI) was used for this process.
Additionally, while it is important to credit people for their contributions, this survey was taken anonymously, so individual responses are not able to be traced back to the person who made the comment. With that in mind, WBI is truly grateful for everyone who participated in the survey and left meaningful responses, making this survey come to life.
The first long-form response question we asked was “What inspires your creativity?” With such a broad topic, survey participants answered with a variety of inspirations, including photography, tattoos, problem solving, mythology, challenging themselves, cats, fiber arts, desiring to create something to represent their heritage, and wanting to build a culturally inclusive city. Many respondents shared inspiration in a variety of common areas, and respondents were able to write as many inspirations as they wanted. The most common responses involved pop culture, including tv, movies, books, games, video games, and comics, and accounted for 33% of answers. The second most common response with 31% said their inspiration came from other LEGO creators, other people’s LEGO creations, and other people in general, with an additional 12.6% finding inspiration from the LEGO sets themselves. 20.6% found inspiration in the world around them, with another 12.6% inspired by nature and 12.6% from things or people they follow online. 17.2% found their creativity through architecture, buildings, history, and art, while another 17.2% were inspired by colors, actual LEGO pieces, or other “cool things”. 8% of respondents listed their own imaginations as inspiration to their creativity. And finally, 4.6% were inspired by children in their lives and another 4.6% by “everything”.
A common source of inspiration: people. WBI researchers wanted to explore this topic more, so we asked respondents “Who are the women who inspire you? They can be in or outside the LEGO hobby.” Although the question was interpreted in different ways by respondents, the answers fell quite cleanly into five categories. Each category had a wonderful variety of responses. 36.3% of responses mentioned other women involved in the LEGO community. 26.3% mentioned relatives of the survey respondent, especially mothers (17.5% overall) and partners (3.8% overall). Sisters, daughters, aunts, and grandmas were also common answers (2.5% each, overall).
The next most common sources of inspiration were women in an artistic profession, from authors and musicians to painters and actresses, totaling 18.8% of responses. Women in a scientific and exploratory professions were mentioned in 13.8% of responses, especially specific scientists (6.3% overall) and astronauts/cosmologists (5% overall). A final common category included historical and modern politicians and activists, mentioned in 6.3% of responses.
Because the Women+s Brick Initiative is committed to supporting and empowering women in the LEGO community, we wanted to hear how our survey respondents have personally experienced this. We asked “How have women within the LEGO hobby made you feel empowered or supported?” and the responses were very encouraging. This type of data can’t authentically be condensed into a pretty graphic (we did it anyway), so we’d like to highlight some extra meaningful responses.
One respondent answered, “By showing the world that LEGO is for everyone, no matter your gender or age. The women who were involved within the Mindstorms community showed me that there are so many ways in which we can get young girls interested in science and technology.” This sentiment was common, with another respondent sharing their observation of “a range of women competitors on LEGO Masters (mom, grandmothers, sisters…)”.
Encouragement and support from women in the LEGO community were also common motifs. In a respondent’s words, “there is so much kindness about sharing information, instead of hoarding it. So little gatekeeping. So much encouragement for newbies. There is space for neurodiversity. There is cooperation. It is very welcoming.” And support is present even when situations are tough. “Other women in this hobby have validated me, supported by voicing their concerns and opinions when in meetings”. One poignant response really stood out: “They have listened.”
The most common key words were extracted from each response and placed into the word cloud below, with the biggest words showing up the most often in respondents’ answers.
Our next question asked survey respondents “What are the biggest changes you’ve noticed in the LEGO hobby? How do you feel about those changes?” 30% of all respondents mentioned increased representation, including more minority, disability, and women-coded minifigures and minidolls. 25% of respondents mentioned how LEGO has only recently been welcoming and marketed specifically to AFOLs. 13% mentioned the increased cost while 8% mentioned the increased complication of produced LEGO sets. Both increased colorfulness of LEGO bricks and more variety of LEGO set options, including tv series, licensed products, movies, and games each received 6% of comments, and larger sets and increased LEGO policies reducing toxicity both received 2% of comments.
The Women+s Brick Initiative has been part of the effort to bring equity and diversity to the LEGO hobby for many years, so the team understands that challenges exist. It is important that we hear from our community what issues they have encountered. We asked our respondents “From your perspective, what is one of the most challenging aspects of being a woman within the LEGO hobby?”
To answer the first question, respondents shared many personal experiences or challenges they have observed women confronting in the LEGO hobby. These stories and observations unveiled complex issues that inhibit many women from enjoying an equitable LEGO fan experience. One respondent’s challenge has been “finding a home in the community, and not feeling like I’m just on the sidelines or don’t have as much to contribute as the men.” Another respondent mentioned “that the policies are not evolving with the growth of diversity of members and the old guard of men are resistant to making changes and or adapting to include woman in roles of power. Making members and possible members not want to join the LUGs due to not feeling welcome.”
Many respondents expressed dealing with limiting expectations, such as “being overlooked unless I meet ‘traditional’ styles or expectations” and “being underestimated when it comes to knowledge of anything other then Friends, Botanicals or of cleaning LEGO.” Another respondent added “some men still appear to consider women inferior when it comes to LEGO building, especially with Star Wars, marvel, technic and car themes.” In some cases, the expectations were not personal in nature but instead restricted creativity. “My favourite parts of LEGO are castle and fantasy. Much of that community, even outside of LEGO, is heavily male dominated. We have stories of kings and warriors and wizards — all men. I want to tell stories about queens and witches and female warriors. That’s hard and always has been.”
In some areas of the community, LEGO fans act in a manner that is hostile or uncomfortable towards women and makes the participation and integration of women a challenge. One respondent mentioned “the toxicity in some environments… online spaces, including other recognized groups/members, that perpetuate sexist memes or do not moderate their spaces well are incredibly frustrating.” Another commented how “misogyny happens even when it a not intentional. [The] Bionicle community especially has a problem with this where they build “sexy MOCs” for sex appeal. When women in the community took offense, they basically brushed it aside and said it wasn’t a big deal.”
An interesting trend the survey researchers noticed while reading through the responses is that very few respondents mention outright rejection, denial of participation or exclusion by groups predominantly composed of men. Instead, there are other, quieter forms of discrimination that are commonly experienced: “The hobby is a very cis-male dominated space, it can be hard to stand out”. “Sometimes men form guy groups and act exclusive.” “There are always a few men who don’t like women talking back to them.” Respondents said they are “not always taken as serious” or deal with “men not respecting what we do or seeing it as ‘less than’”. Others observed “that a lot of the ‘prestige’ builds and attention tend towards certain kinds of builds, which largely appeal to the same limited demographics.” This results in women at in-person conventions who struggled “being heard [or] winning awards because the bros know each other longer”.
A variety of other responses mentioned challenges from logistics to lack of representation in the community to hurtful perceptions. A respondent mentioned their challenge is finding “Accommodation during events”, possibly because of a shortage of people with whom to share a hotel room. For others, the challenge was “finding enough time to build between work and family”. Several respondents said they were challenged “finding community as a woman of color” or “feeling included in women’s spaces as a GNC woman.” Another common challenge was “being ignored because people think my husband built my stuff” and situations where “it was assumed I was the wife of the builder”.
The story doesn’t end there, however. A common theme in many responses emphasized that, while these problems still exist, overall things are getting better. Communities are becoming more welcoming with time, and more communities are being created that are intentionally safe, equitable spaces. In addition, a significant percentage of respondents shared that they have not, in fact, perceived challenging aspects of being a woman in the LEGO hobby. These answers accounted for 17.5% of the surveys total respondents, making this answer technically the most common. So while the challenges many women experience are very real and problematic, there is hope that the future can be better.
See the list of challenges summarized in the chart below. If the image does not load or if there are legibility issues, select “Plot Statistics” below for a dropdown that includes the data written out in text form.
Toggle Plot Statistics
14.9%: Being overlooked, not respected
12.6%: Gatekeeping
12.6%: Experiences of discrimination
11.5%: Judgement and condescention
10.3%: Feeling intimidated, unsafe, or uncomfortable
9.2%: Not represented in LEGO hobby
8.1%: Not represented in LEGO sets
4.6%: Perception of LEGO only for kids
4.6%: Assumed to be an AFOL’s partner
4.6%: Misogynistic culture
3.5%: Mansplaining
2.3%: Work + family obligations
And because the future holds so much promise, we are glad to conclude this article with the hopeful answers to the question “What would you like to see for the future girls and women in the LEGO hobby?”
Two answers stood out from all the rest. The first prominent response mentioned a desire for more representation and diversity in the LEGO fan community. One respondent wanted to see “more girls and women in the hobby. 95% of my followers are guys.” Gatekeeping and gender expectations are other barriers that many respondents desired to see eliminated. “I would like to see a future where the girls, women, and non-binary folk in the LEGO hobby aren’t subjected to the same level of gender-encoded societal norms and they are free and encouraged to build whatever they want without backlash or feeling like they don’t belong.” Similarly, many respondents in the survey desired “for their participation to not even be a question.” Even within the current LEGO community, especially the North American fan community, diversity could be improved. Survey respondents wanted to see “more women of color participating in the hobby.”
One of the best ways respondents imagined increasing representation in the hobby is to fix gender-encoded norms at the start of a young LEGO fan’s life. This is possible by outreach to girls or by promoting high-profile women in the hobby to form a culture of normalcy where women are recognized. “They need to be seen, celebrated, and in leadership roles so the girls of today can see these LEGO lovers and be inspired.” One convention attendee noted that “I made a point of talking to the few young girls displaying MOCs at the last convention I was at, encouraging them to talk about their builds. I wanted them to feel heard, seen, and validated, and make sure they felt excited to be part of the community.” Another issue that survey respondents noted is a lack of sets that lie between the “girls” lines like Friends and the “boys” or “adult” lines. “I would like to see more sets that keep girls’ interest in middle and high school.” “We need more regular sets focused on girls and women that are not friends sets.”
And thus we segue into the second most common response: “Desegregation of girl themes from regular LEGO.” Gender-specific marketing and theme design was referenced time and again in survey responses. Some LEGO fans interpret the company’s product portfolio as “equal, but separate” and want to see “more gender-free focus.” This can be improved with “equality amongst themes, including some sets within LEGO Technic that are aimed at more interests than just vehicles and available in more/brighter colors.” Some of this responsibility is on the LEGO company, who can address this issue through “re-education to counter marketing along gender lines. Specifically to show it’s completely acceptable (and necessary) for women to like themes outside Friends and other female-coded themes.” “I would love to see LEGO expand their marketing of male dominated sets towards women. Give us female astronauts and archers and swordspeople and all sorts of people.”
Several more comments pertained to increased diversity in both LEGO sets and LEGO storytelling options. A respondent wants to see “more middle eastern sets, more African sets. I love the Wish sets.” Another hoped for “more diversity and beauty, which would benefit everyone.” One respondent wants LEGO to focus on creating sets that offer “the ability to create complex stories without a focus on the traditional roles of good vs bad.” Even beyond LEGO sets, there’s possibility for improvement; someone sees a need “for LEGO to produce t-shirts in women’s cuts/sizes (not just kids and men’s).”
A final improvement respondents wanted to see is an increase in group activities, events and collaborations that can bring women together. Most comments mentioned the need of these gatherings to not include or focus on the traditionally female-marketed product lines. A respondent wanted to see “workshops only for girls or women and not only Friends sets.” Another mentioned opportunities for “A women-only great ball contraption build. I really want to learn more about this kind of build but I’m intimidated by the gears etc.” Other LEGO themes and genres could get the same treatment: “I’d love to see an all pastel take-over of a space (or castle) theme.”
All respondents’ answers were grouped into the most common categories. There was so much variety that a total of 20 shared hopes for the future were recorded. To read the full list without the image, select “Plot Statistics” below.
Toggle Plot Statistics
16.1%: More representation in the community
14.9%: Less gender-specific marketing and theme design
11.5%: Less gatekeeping, more equality
10.3%: Women’s groups, events and collaborations
8.0%: Better representation in LEGO sets
8.0%: Feeling welcomed, supported, and appreciated
8.0%: Less focus on the Friends theme
6.9%: Inspire young girls to create more with LEGO
6.9%: Women encouraged to participate in STEM themes
4.6%: More diverse female minifigures
4.6%: Normalization of women everywhere in hobby
4.6%: Women featured more
3.4%: LEGO Listening to feedback from women
3.4%: Women in leadership
3.4%: LEGO sets designed for adult women
3.4%: More inclusive LUGs
2.3%: Women being more confident
2.3%: More woman LEGO designers
2.3%: Better Minidoll body types and integration with minifigures
2.3%: More Technic set options than just vehicles and machines
To summarize this long data journey, the Women+s Brick Initiative is part of a large, diverse and passionate community. Women have been creating and building in the hobby since the beginning. There are many, many ways to enjoy LEGO parts and LEGO sets, and creativity is inspired by so many parts of life, especially so many wonderful women who have made their mark, both historical and personal, on each of us. There have been challenges in the hobby; many challenges persist now; and there are new challenges to face tomorrow, but the future is more promising than ever, as long as we represent each other, create welcoming, safe spaces and speak up for change. Thank you to our readers and followers for participating in this research survey and reading this summary. You are why we know our mission is worth the effort.
Until next time, your WBI research team!
Citations: All quoted, italicized sections of text were extracted from survey respondents’ answers anonymously. All images were created by the research contributors.