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I'd like to see my nieces grow up to be whatever they want, but at ages four and five they want to be princesses *and* architects, so they're each getting a dress-up kit and a set of Tinkertoys. If you keep giving them stuff they won't play with just because you think they should, you're just throwing money out the window.
Besides, when I was a little girl I liked to dress up in my mother's old bridesmaid dresses too; that had much less of an impact on me than my father and teachers telling me over and over, directly and indirectly, that I was no good at math, science, or computer programming while praising and encouraging my brother and my male classmates.
