Barbie’s been a doctor at least 53 times, but she needs better PPE

While Barbie has made great strides in terms of her career since the doll was first launched in 1959, one research team says she doesn’t make the cut as a scientist or medical professional. At least not when it comes to reflecting appropriate clinical and safety standards, and personal protective equipment.A researcher from Indianapolis studied Mattel Barbie dolls designed to mimic medical and scientific subspecialties, and investigated whether the dolls would meet met laboratory and clinical safety standards in their attire and accessories. Findings were published in the BMJ. “Doctor, scientist, nurse, paramedic, and dentist Barbie dolls are more than mere pink playthings, but definite symbols of some of the most important careers that girls can aspire to one day hold, careers that their foremothers fought for them to access. Yet, these dolls do more than raise awareness. They embody society’s ideas of who and what medical professionals and scientists are.”However, the dolls “can unintentionally spread misconceptions about medicine and science, most often via their appearances,” the author wrote. The study looked at how well the dolls reflect real life in the sciences.The researcher identified 92 science and medical themed Barbie dolls. The crowd consisted of 53 doctors, 10 scientists, two science educators, 15 nurses, 11 dentists, and one paramedic. They were compared to 65 similar non-Barbie dolls which also portrayed doctors or scientists. Whether or not science and laboratory-worker dolls met safety criteria was compared against the laboratory and clinical safety guidelines used by Indiana University. This included features such as closed-toed shoes, full-length pants and skirts, use of laboratory coats, disposable gloves, and safety goggles or glasses, and more.“Female scientist and doctor Barbie dolls mostly wore clothing, accessories, and hairstyles that directly hindered their safety and interfered with their job performances,” the paper said. None of them “met professional safety standards for their respective fields, with some being at serious risk of experiencing a workplace related injury or infection due to a scarcity of personal protective equipment.”Some Barbies came with kits for doing simple experiments. Most doctor Barbies were portrayed as working with children including three of six Ken dolls that were doctors.The non-Barbie comparison dolls represented more ethnic and age groups than the Mattel Barbies.

Barbie’s been a doctor at least 53 times, but she needs better PPE

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