Women We Should Be Celebrating: The New Barbies
Rosa Parks and Sally Ride get their very own barbie dolls.
Rosa Parks, American Activist (known as the Mother of the Modern Civil Rights Movement), and Sally Ride, the first American woman and youngest American ever to fly in space, have recently been awarded their own barbiedolls that children will have the chance to play with. Alongside the dolls will be educational material on the inspirational women, related clothing and accessories.
A Mattel spokesperson told CNN: ‘Both Sally Ride and Rosa Parks made the world better for future generations of girls…By celebrating their achievements with dolls made in their likeness, we hope girls will be inspired to pursue their dreams.’
The Inspiring Women Series, revealed on International Women’s Day last year (2018) featured Frida Kahlo, Katherine Johnson and Amelia Earhart, and this year the line-up was joined by Rosa Parks and Sally Ride, revealed on Monday 26th August, Women’s Equality Day. This also follows the release of Barbie’s first-ever Maori doll earlier this year, representing Melodie Robinson, a New Zealand sports journalist, alongside the 20 other inspirational women.
Despite positive reactions to the whole line and the inspirational women, critics have argued that the dolls themselves continue to boast unrealistic expectations of women’s bodies, criticism Mattel has always faced. This is following Mattel’s introduction of a wheelchair user and a Barbie with a prosthetic leg earlier this year, which was criticized for suggesting that all disabled women use a mobility aid. Furthermore, last year, a black Barbie’s hairstyle was criticized for being unrealistic and an inaccurate depiction of real-life hairstyles of black women.
However, this is still a step-up from the traditional Barbies that children play with and that studies have shown can have negative effects on mental health and body image issues. Since 2016, Mattel have been focusing on reinventing the traditional Barbie, releasing curvy, tall and petite dolls with a wider range of skin tones and hairstyles.
The aim of this range is to inspire younger children and continue the Dream Gap Project: ‘an ongoing global initiative that aims to give girls the resources and support they need to continue to believe that they can be anything.’
Image via: WLOX
Next up, Model Adwoa Aboah Is Turned Into A Barbie For International Women’s Day
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