Caitlin Gentry

Dr.Bonnie Whitener

English 102

March 27, 2024

Life in the Dream house: How Barbie has positively impacted our society.

"Hi! I'm Barbie!" is a catchphrase we all grew up with. Barbie is a classic figure in young

girls' lives worldwide. She is an icon, from her fabulous pink mega-mansion dream house to her

pink car. Barbie was first made by a woman named Ruth Handler in 1959 when she collaborated

on the manufacturing of dolls with Mattel, a company we all know well as a toy company.

Barbie's purpose was for little girls to play with and see what they might be like when they were

older, compared to the classic baby doll, the primary toy a young girl was used to playing with

then. Barbie was a huge success right from the start and now is the world's leading toy doll of all

time. However, there has been controversy surrounding the doll in recent years, and that

controversy has been about whether the doll has positively impacted our society. Moreover,

research shows that dolls have positively impacted our society. Barbie can develop empathy

within people who play with them, has inspired young girls that they can do anything, and

supports inclusion in all aspects.

A young child's brain is very formative and needs to be nurtured, shown, and told what to

do. However, we can not teach empathy to young children. It is something they come about on

their own. They need to feel and understand more than themselves and think about interacting

with people around them. Playing with Barbie’s has been shown to help develop empathy in

young children who play with dolls. With an article by Forbes Magazine, Mattel, the owner of

Barbie, launched a new study alongside Cardiff University about how playing with Barbies helps
young children create an aspect of empathy in them. Forbes quotes that “Barbie has launched a

new study which shows conclusively that doll play helps kids develop empathy… The findings

show that developmental and well-being benefits are more significant even when playing alone

than tablet play."(Aziz, Afdhel. “Barbie Announces) This study took place after the quarantine of

COVID-19, so children born or born slightly beforehand never had the same experience that

most kids do at their age because they were trapped in their house. However, also looking at

children in the 2020's will have more access to tablets and electronics earlier than ever before.

Hence, this study highlights the importance of putting down the tablet and picking up a physical

toy for children. Forbes wrote, "To understand the relevancy of the study, Barbie independently

commissioned a global survey in 22 different countries questioning 15,000 parents, which

showed 91 percent of parents rank empathy as a key social skill they would like their child to

develop, but only 26 percent were aware that doll play could help their child develop these

skills."(Aziz, Afdhel. “Barbie Announces) Even parents of young children who were a part of

this study, did not know about the impact a doll can have on their child, even though they ranked

empathy relatively high "as a key social skill" their child should have. As Cardiff University and

Mattel concluded their study, Mattel's article states, "The study findings show that when children

played alone with dolls, they showed the same levels of activation of the pSTS as they do when

playing with others. Another finding of the study is that when children were left to play tablet

games on their own, there was far less activation of the pSTS, even though the games involved a

considerable creative element."(Mattel, Inc.) When they refer to "pSTS" this is part of the brain

that is defined "as the brain region characterized by perceptual representations of human body

actions that promote the understanding of observed behavior" (Oxford Academic). So, in the

end, this study supports the idea that playing with Barbie's can and will create empathy in young
children, compared to its counterpart the "tablet." It shows that Barbie dolls are still relevant to

social learning and pivotal in a young child's life.

Women empowerment has been up-and-coming in the media and our heads for the past

few years. Mainly when focused on the workforce. Fights for equal opportunity and pay for

women have been enormous. Moreover, Barbie has played a pivotal role in this booming topic.

Barbie has had over 250 careers in her lifetime as a toy. She has been a nurse, a doctor, a vet, a

gymnast, a ballerina, a scientist, a psychologist, and many more. A paper by Renne Ho from

Santa Clara University explores how Barbie has supported girls' ideas that they can do anything

and put their minds to it. She says, "As previously mentioned, this is seen throughout the

hundreds of "Barbies," ranging from Miss Astronaut Barbie in 1965, Doctor Barbie in 1988, and

even a Nascar Barbie in 1998. Mattel also created the Barbie Dream Gap Project in 2019 to raise

awareness of the dream gap phenomenon. In this phenomenon, girls begin to doubt their

intelligence, beginning at age 5, whereas boys do not. (Ho 6) The dream gap is the name for

when young girls, who could be as young as five years old, develop self-limiting views about

jobs because of their gender. She then writes this: “This leads to boys pursuing careers that

require higher intelligence, causing girls to be underrepresented in these fields. By age 12, 50%

of girls will "aspire only to stereotypically feminine roles" (Ho 6). However, as previously

stated, Barbie has developed an idea (The Dream Gap Project) that could change how young

girls see themselves as women, not as a disadvantage but as an inspiration. "This project inspired

the release of Judge Barbie, included four skin tones and hairstyles, further proving that any girl

can do anything, as well as donating $250,000 annually since 2019 and partnering with UCLA to

develop a school curriculum about leadership and careers for girls (Mattel)." (Ho 6) Barbie has

had many jobs nearly all defying gender norms and showing to young girls that they do not have
to deter from a certain job just because it is "male-dominated" or because they are female, Barbie

is determined to show young girls that they can do anything they want to in their life.

Some might say that Barbie supports unrealistic body image standards and does not

include much of anything outside of their standard white, blond-haired doll. However, that

argument could not be further from the truth. An article by the "Bright Side" stated, "In 1980, the

first Black Barbie arrived with a curly afro and a ruby red dress. Nowadays, Mattel has started to

launch dolls with more realistic body sizes and disabilities — to be more inclusive and

representative of more identities.” (Bright Side) Although Barbie did not start as inclusive, as

time has passed and society has changed, so has Barbie, making her much more inclusive to her

young audience. "Not only does modern Barbie come in several body types and skin tones, but

she can also have no hair, wear a hijab, have a prosthetic leg, have vitiligo, or use a wheelchair.

Anyone can find themselves in a Barbie doll." (Bright Side) Barbie has evolved into today's

society, making young girls and boys of any background feel more included and celebrated.

Although Barbie has gone through controversy over the years about her body type and

what she seems to promote on the outside, these were all proven wrong throughout the past

couple of years. Barbie has significantly impacted multiple generations of young children and is

still going strong today. She teaches empathy to young children, supports young girls in

whatever they want to be when they grow up, and supports diversity in the toy universe so every

child feels seen.

 Work Cited:

Aziz, Afdhel. “Barbie Announces New Study Showing How Doll Play Helps Kids

Develop the Essential Skill of Empathy.” Forbes, 21 Oct. 2020,

www.forbes.com/sites/afdhelaziz/2020/10/21/barbie-announces-new-study-showing-

how-doll-play-helps-kids-develop-the-essential-skill-of-empathy/?sh=5458aec95bb8.

Bright Side. “How Barbie helped to change the world and prove that she is not all about

looks.” Bright Side — Inspiration. Creativity. Wonder., 12 Apr. 2021,

brightside.me/articles/how-barbie-helped-to-change-the-world-and-prove-that-she-is-not-

all-about-looks-801623.

Ho, Renne. “Barbie: For Better or Worse.” Pop Culture Intersections, Sept. 2023, p. 6,

scholarcommons.scu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?

article=1058&context=engl_176#:~:text=Barbie%27s%20role%20in%20establishing

%20the,position%20as%20a%20feminist%20icon.

Magistretti, Bérénice. “Barbies with disabilities are impacting a new generation. Here’s

why it matters.” Forbes, 12 Sept. 2023,

www.forbes.com/sites/berenicemagistretti/2023/07/28/barbies-with-disabilities-shaping-

a-new-generation-through-diverse-and-disability-inclusive-toys/?sh=7a9cf41c3c4c.

Mattel, Inc. | Corporate Website Home. corporate.mattel.com/news/new-study-shows-

that-playing-with-dolls-allows-children-to-develop-empathy-and-social-processing-skills-

6816013.