It's time to move on from Barbie
I can't help but feel like it's time to move on from Barbie. Even though the company tried to make her more interesting by changing her look when people were losing interest in the same old skinny blonde doll, Barbie is now back in the spotlight thanks to Margot Robbie, Issa Rae, and Greta Gerwig. They made a film that they say is anarchic, funny and empowering, even for people who don't like Barbie.
Playing with dolls can be fun and helps us use our imagination and develop our empathy skills, and I know Barbie is just a doll. Most people either like playing with Barbie or don't really care about her. Some even find inspiration in her. But Barbie also represents a bigger problem for women. The new Barbies show us that it's still really hard for successful women to be respected if they don't look perfect. They have to be beautiful, stylish, thin, and young. In a world that says women can be anything, they're still expected to be like dolls.
The way Barbie has been changed also shows how companies use the idea of women's empowerment to make more money. Mattel, the company that makes Barbie, says they want to help girls believe in themselves and achieve their dreams launching the Barbie Dream Gap Project. But in reality, a minuscule portion of Mattel's profits, less than 0.1%, is allocated toward initiatives supporting girls' ambitions, such as school workshops and mentorship conferences. They spend much more money on selling more dolls.
Other companies do this too. They talk about empowering girls, women and having role models, but they don't do enough to help women with the real challenges they face, like low pay, limited childcare options and persistent inequality.
To really make a difference, people need to challenge the problems with our society, like too much focus on making money. Using feminist ideas to sell more dolls is not enough and a paltry response to our aspirations for genuine social change. If we want girls and women to have a better world, we need to look beyond dolls for inspiration.
