Text: Diana Stanciu
With the release of Barbie, a film that focuses on multiple empowering messages for women and encourages its audience to embrace feminism in amazing ways such as combating misogyny, it also raised the question "Is Barbie a feminist idol or a negative influence?".
Ever since her appearance in 1959, Barbie has conquered the hearts of little girls everywhere. Over time, the franchise has evolved to include everything from dolls, to accessories, to movies, books, and even stage productions. In addition to all this, it has also become a unique indicator of women's history over the years.
Ruth Handler, the founder of Barbie, found her inspiration for the creation of this doll by watching her children play. She noticed how her son's action figures allowed her to be anything from a doctor to a firefighter, whereas her daughter's baby or child dolls allowed her to be only one thing: a mother. Wanting both her daughter and other little girls to be able to dream beyond becoming mothers, Ruth created an older doll that opened up a new world full of possibilities of what life could be like for them in the future .
From that point on, Barbie evolved over time and in response to events, people and circumstances. Not long after the appearance of the Barbie doll, the civil rights movement intensified and initiated a new wave of feminism. With a significant number of women entering the workforce, Barbie released the first set of career dolls. These dolls embodied flight attendants, fashion editors, and others.
As women began to gain autonomy and wealth, they began to acquire high-priced goods such as houses and cars. In this context, in 1962, Barbie created a car, the well-known "dream house", accessories to show little girls the value and rewards of work and independence. Continuing to advocate for equal rights, Barbie introduced Christie, Barbie's friend, one of the first African-American dolls on the market.
Later in 1980, dolls of various colors were released, showing inclusiveness by also calling them Barbie instead of giving them another name. Not long after, a new collection was launched that would teach little girls about the fashion and culture of people everywhere.
Once women began to occupy leadership positions, after a long period of time they were active only in the work field, Barbie celebrated these changes by launching the CEO doll, and once the presence of women began to expand in the military as well, Barbie created her first soldiers in the form of dolls representing the army, air force and navy.
Ever since her creation, Barbie has followed the progress of women's history on the one hand, and on the other hand shown little girls around the world what could be if they only dared to dream. The dolls were created to celebrate beauty in different cultures, but also to honor women from the past who have had a strong impact to this day.
From the civil rights movement and the subsequent feminist waves that brought women into the workforce to today's issues affecting women, Barbie has played an important role in accentuating the past and defining the future.
The conclusion we can draw from here is the following: developed in parallel with events of great impact for women everywhere, representing the beauty of diversity and different cultures, Barbie is a feminist idol and not just for the younger generation.
Sources: https://www.girlmuseum.org/the-evolution-of-barbie-a-marker-for-womens-history/
English 
Română 
I enthusiastically started browsing this great website with fantastic user content a couple days back. The site owner is gifted at informing readers. I'm impressed and hope they maintain their splendid content skills.