Representations of medical professionals by Mattel paint an inaccurate picture of the field, the doctors wrote.
Four female surgeons from Newton-Wellesley Hospital were recently asked to reflect on whether the current Barbie dolls representing medical careers were accurate, up-to-date representations of women in medicine. Guess what? They weren’t.
That’s what the surgeons argued in“This Barbie is a surgeon,” published in December in the British Medical Journal in response to a previously written study by Katherine Klamer of the Indiana University School of Medicine. In the piece, Dr. Cornelia Griggs, Dr. Sophia McKinley, Dr. Erika Rangel, and Dr. Sareh Parangi identify major gaps in Barbie’s representation of the medical field.
“As surgeons in decidedly male dominated fields, we support Klamer’s conclusion that Barbies should represent a more diverse field of medical and scientific professions and that safety comes before fashion,” the Boston-area doctors wrote.
The models
Barbie dolls have been a longstanding sensation for children, well before the blockbuster “Barbie” movie debuted last summer. And while Mattel has made attempts at diversity and inclusion — the first “Doctor Barbie” debuted in 1973 — many professionals in male-dominated fields feel something is still lacking.