In November 2017, at the Glamour Women of the Year Summit, Mattel announced their first ever hijab–wearing Barbie doll. The doll is modeled after Ibtihaj Muhammad, a US Olympic bronze medal fencer. Muhammed was the first US Olympian to compete wearing a hijab in the Rio 2016 games.
The doll will be for sale in 2018. After the announcement, Muhammad tweeted, “I am proud to know that little girls everywhere can now play with a Barbie who chooses to wear a hijab! This is a childhood dream come true.”
Muhammad’s hijab-wearing Barbie is part of Mattel’s #Shero campaign, in which remarkable women are being featured with their own doll. The campaign already includes body positivity activist and model Ashley Graham, Olympic gymnast Gabby Douglas, and actress Zendaya.
Barbie is typically criticized for her extremely unrealistic image – eighteen-inch waist, size three shoe, and thirty-nine-inch chest (if she were a real person). Over the past few years, Mattel has been working on creating a more diverse variety of Barbie dolls. In 2016, they released curvy, tall, and petite Barbie. These more realistic dolls are meant to cater to the diverse appearances and body types of real women. Not only do the dolls vary in body type, they also have a diverse array of skin tones and hair colours. Not to mention, they have even started giving Ken dolls a makeover!
I think it is awesome how young girls and boys now have a wider variety of dolls to look up to. Although the Barbie toys are still not without problem for portraying men, women, and gender roles, children are finally able to see themselves represented by the infamous doll brand, which is definitely a notable step in the right direction!
Sources:
http://money.cnn.com/2017/11/13/news/barbie-hijab-ibtihaj-muhammad/index.html
http://im.rediff.com/getahead/2017/nov/15glamourawards10.jpg