The most beloved doll, Barbie

Barbie is one of the most iconic and popular girl’s dolls in the world. She has inspired so many little girls around the world to be who they want to be. But do you know that only her friends call her “Barbie?”

So if you were to look at her tax forms, you’d see her full name: Barbara Millicent Roberts; (named after the Mattel founders’ daughter, Barbara Handler; their son, of course, is named Ken.)

Barbie has the most impressive résumé in history

With over 200 careers, Barbie has served as an inspiration to young girls. They could be whoever they want to be. One of the ways Barbie influenced girls was by trying many careers. She started in jobs dominated by women in the late 1950s through early 1960s like fashion model, fashion editor, Ballerina, fashion designer, flight attendant and nurse. Then Barbie began to take other careers like astronaut, surgeon and even ran for president. Today, Barbie represents women in STEM as computer engineer, robotics engineer, video game developer, Mars explorer. Apart from that she is also a palaeontologist, Desert Storm medic, Canadian mountie, McDonald’s cashier, zoo doctor, business executive, secretary, Catwoman, rapper and many more.

Barbie has earned an impressive $45.2 million from all her careers. But her true purpose is to encourage girls to imagine what they can be when they grow up while they play.

She’s as modest now as she’s ever been

The first Barbie sold in 1959 had one outfit: a black-and-white-striped, one-piece swimsuit. Her hair came in blonde or brunette, but her eyes only came in one direction: leering coyly to the side. Barbie didn’t look ahead until 1971. The best-selling Barbie doll ever was 1992 Totally Hair™ Barbie. She featured floor-length hair.

Barbie was co-designed by a missile engineer

A former pentagon engineer, Jack Ryan, helped design the first Barbie. He graduated from Yale, then went to work at Raytheon designing missiles. Later, he joined Mattel as head of research and development. There, he used his talents to design and patent the very first Barbie doll. He created her twist-and-turn waist and her knee joints. During his time at Mattel, he also helped design Chatty Cathy and Hot Wheels.

Published in Dawn, Young World, April 30th, 2022