Mattel, the maker of the world’s best-known Barbie dolls is releasing a new batch of toys called “Inspiring Women.” It comprises 17 dolls, each resembling an important and successful female figure of the past and the present. Among them are academics, sportswomen, artists, dancers, journalists, chefs, actresses, and film directors, such as American pilot Amelia Earhart, the first female aviator to fly across the Atlantic Ocean; NASA physicist and mathematician Katherine Johnson; Mexican artist Frida Kahlo; Olympic champion Chloe Kim, and Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins.
Mattel has conducted a survey of 8,000 mothers around the globe and found that 86 percent are worried about the kind of role models their daughters are exposed to. “Girls have always been able to play out different roles and careers with Barbie, and we are thrilled to shine a light on real-life role models to remind them that they can be anything,” the company’s official website says. The producer also focuses on diversity – a few years ago it began to make Barbies of different heights, statures, skin shades, and hairstyles.
Parents and gender equality experts believe that the fact that the legendary blonde doll, who lives nicely and carelessly, is changing is a step forward. Barbie dolls are very different now – they do various things and carve out careers in all kinds of fields. You can easily find a Barbie who not only swims in a swimming-pool and works in a cafe but also works at a construction site or in a hospital, plays soccer, practices yoga, rescues animals in reserves, etc. And now girls will be inspired by real women who managed to achieve the set goals. Each doll in the batch will have a booklet that tells about the prototype woman’s life and achievements.
It is worthwhile to recall here the numerous biographies of well-known women for children and teenagers. They have long been written and successfully sold in the world and began to appear in Ukraine last year. They are translations of foreign editions and books by Ukrainian authors. The Knyholav publishers announced the other day the book The Power of Girls: Little Stories about Great Deeds by Kateryna Babkina and Mark Livin about prominent Ukrainian women of the past and the present. The Vydavnytstvo publishers also announces the coming publication of the book She Did It about 50 Ukrainian women who achieved success in various spheres. Ukrainian authors have also worked on the “Outstanding Personalities” series for the IPIO agency, with Coco Chanel and Margaret Thatcher being among its heroines.
There also appear a lot of translated books about outstanding women, such as the series “To Little Ones about Great One” from the KM-Books publishers and the “Miranda” series from Nebo Book Lab Publishing. Artbooks published a book about Coco Chanel for children, and Knyholav is going to publish this year a translation of the world’s bestseller Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls and a collection of biographic stories about successful and outstanding women from all over the world.
These books and the new Barbie collection offer girls role models and objects of inspiration. They make it clear that once you believe in yourself and work hard, you will achieve success in any field and any profession you choose. The world holds a place for both successful men and successful women.
“When I was little, I wanted to be a hero,” writer and human rights advocate Larysa DENYSENKO confesses. “I stress ‘hero’ because it was not written much about heroines. And it is very important that the child should more easily identify him/herself and be sure that development and education do not depend on the gender. There are a lot of incredible heroines. This year there is boom of books in Ukraine, which impart new colors and feminine voices to history. This incredibly inspires me. The toy industry and cult dolls are changing the profile – it is not only a doll for changeable apparel, but also a heroine. Our children must grow up without any stereotypic ideas.”
