Analysis of Barbie medical and science career dolls: descriptive quantitative study.

Publisher: British Medical Association Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 8900488 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1756-1833 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 09598138 NLM ISO Abbreviation: BMJ Subsets: MEDLINE

Original Publication: London : British Medical Association

Play and Playthings* ; Data Analysis*; Humans ; Child ; Female ; Adult ; Male

Objectives: To identify Barbie brand dolls that had medicine and science themed professions in comparison with other career dolls and to determine their accuracy in meeting clinical and laboratory safety standards.
Design: Descriptive quantitative study.
Setting: Visual and data analysis of web searches.
Main Outcome Measures: To identify the kinds of medical and scientific subspecialties that the Barbie dolls (and a comparison doll group) worked in; and to determine whether these medical professional and scientist dolls met laboratory and clinical safety standards. Additional data about doll demographics (ie, age, ethnic group, and sex) were also collected.
Participants: 92 Barbie brand dolls were analyzed: doctor (n=53), scientist (n=10), science educator (n=2), nurse (n=15), dentist (n=11), and paramedic (n=1). 65 non-Barbie brand dolls were also analyzed for comparison purposes: doctor (n=26), scientist (n=27), nurse (n=7), dentist (n=2), engineer (n=2), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technician (n=1) dolls.
Results: Barbie brand medical professional dolls (n=80) largely treated children (66%, n=53/80), with only three (4%) medical professional dolls being directly depicted working with adults. Of the 12 scientist Barbie brand dolls, none met all proper personal protective equipment requirements related to hair and clothing. Barbie brand dolls often came with items, such as laboratory coats, microscopes, stethoscopes, and glasses, that children stereotypically associate with doctors and scientists. While comparison dolls offered a wider range of age and ethnic groups than the Barbie doll group did, the dolls similarly struggled to portray a wide range of medical and scientific subfields and most comparison dolls did not wear proper personal protective equipment.
Conclusions: Medicine and science themed dolls help to inspire tomorrow's medical professionals and scientists. All toy companies should ensure that future medical professional and scientist dolls meet clinical and laboratory safety standards and diversify the types of medical and scientific professions represented (especially among male dominated fields). For young girls' sakes as much as her own, Barbie must keep shattering glass ceilings.
Competing Interests: Competing interests: I have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form at www.icmje.org/disclosure-of-interest/ and declare: no support from any organization for the submitted work; no financial relationships with any organizations that might have an interest in the submitted work in the previous three years; no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.
(© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2019. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

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Date Created: 20231218 Date Completed: 20231220 Latest Revision: 20240213

20240213

PMC10728597

10.1136/bmj-2023-077276

38110233