Come on, Barbie. Let's go… work in the plastics industry?
Already one of the biggest movies of the year, Barbie shows a world of women holding important positions and aspirational roles: Barbieland is run by Barbies with professions such as president, journalist, physicist and lawyer. There's even an all-female Supreme Court.
Launched in 1959 by Mattel Inc. at the American Toy Fair in New York, Barbie — full name Barbara Millicent Roberts — was created by Ruth Handler after watching her own daughter, Barbara, play make-believe with paper dolls and realizing there was a gap in the market for toys that allowed little girls to imagine their future — more than just being caretakers or mothers. Over the years, Barbie has had more than 250 careers, from astronaut in 1965 — four years before Neil Armstrong walked on the moon — to surgeon, veterinarian, Air Force pilot, firefighter, business executive, scientist, robotics engineer and president.
In our Women Breaking the Mold 2023 special report, highlighted in this issue, Plastics News noted a trend: More nominees had titles of director, vice president, manager or leader than we'd seen before, and more worked in industries such as environmental health, safety, regulations and operations.
Find all 50 profiles of our Women Breaking the Mold 2023 here
"I am bound and determined to create access to STEM careers for all. In a child's mind, if you can see it, you can be it. Therefore, I make myself accessible and available to students who possess the 'STEM bug,' said Sherrika Sanders, senior technical engineer at Manner Polymers.
It reminded me of a quote from the Barbie movie: "Because Barbie can be anything, women can be anything."
When Barbie bought her dream house in 1962, women were frequently turned down for mortgage applications without male co-signers (Equal Credit Opportunity Act, 1974) and employers were not legally required to pay women equal salaries as men (Equal Pay Act, 1963). In 2022, single women owned 58 percent of homes owned by unmarried Americans. (Several WBTM honorees mentioned buying their own homes as their greatest accomplishment.)
College Graduate Barbie debuted in 1963, and in 1967, less than one-in-five women were even enrolled in college. As of 2021, the Pew Research Center reports 39 percent of women aged 25 and older have a bachelor's degree.