McKenna Pope: Hasbro to meet girl fighting for ‘gender-neutral’ Easy-Bake Ovens

McKenna Pope should be an inspiration to us all. The 13-year-old who started a petition for a gender-neutral Easy-Bake Oven has finally got the attention of the Easy-Bake team at Hasbro and will be meeting with company officials this Monday to voice her concerns and ideas.

McKenna launched an online petition when she discovered that Easy-Bake Ovens only come in pink and purple, causing her 4-year-old brother to dismiss the toy as something worth playing with. More than 41,000 people signed the petition on Change.org.

Also see: Girl petitions for Easy Bake Oven gender equality

"I want my brother to know that it's not 'wrong' for him to want to be a chef, that it's okay to go against what society believes to be appropriate. There are, as a matter of fact, a multitude of very talented and successful male culinary geniuses, i.e. Emeril, Gordon Ramsey, etc. Unfortunately, Hasbro has made going against the societal norm that girls are the ones in the kitchen even more difficult," McKenna wrote on Change.org.

Her efforts were cheered on by culinary celebrities in a YouTube video called "Everyone Can Cook".

Hasbro spokesperson Julie Duffy tells the Associated Press that Hasbro has made the toy in gender-neutral colours in the past and insists the oven is a great gift for both girls and boys.

McKenna's story isn't the first we've told this year of a teen inspiring positive change.

This summer, 14-year-old Julia Bluhm of Maine successfully petitioned Seventeen magazine to stop airbrushing their models. Inspired by her success, other teens started targeting fashion magazines.