Over the years, Barbie and Mattel have been working to create several promotional plans to generate a diverse image of beauty and strength apart from the iconic bleach-blonde, curvy doll. Perfectly announced in time for International Day of the Girl, the ‘Dream Gap Project’ is an initiative from Barbie to raise awareness for females facing cultural stereotypes and bias that restrains girls from not realizing their full potential.
“Starting at age 5, many girls begin to develop limiting self-beliefs,” according to the official Barbie website.
Leaving the young girls to convince themselves that the female gender cannot do or be anything they hope to be. These stereotypes that suggest women aren’t as smart as men can be picked up by children beginning at a very young age. These patterns are highly influenced by media and grownups that surround them who make subtle reinforcements of this cultural issue.
As the number one female empowerment company, Mattel’s Barbie has launched a global initiative that includes the funding of research, producing inspiring content, spotlighting female role models and creating products that will encourage younger girls to accomplish their dream role(s) both professionally and personally.
The company has joined forces with Associate Professor Andrei Cimpian from New York University and several international researchers to help “identify what issues may be holding girls back from fulfilling their potential around the world,” according to Barbie’s website.
Research will also be conducted to help identify the proper ways to share role model stories to girls that will influence them and their desired futures.
Barbie has created an “Inspiring Women” series of dolls that will be released alongside the Dream Gap initiative to help cultivate the spirit of the project. In a series of at least 10 dolls, there will be a mixture highlighting careers underrepresented by females, as well as published content starring at least 10 role models associated with the specific dolls.
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