Illustrating the Profession Routes of Barbie Dolls in Various Fields
In a fascinating exploration of Barbie's career journey, The Washington Post has created a series of visualizations tracking the jobs assigned to the iconic doll over the past six decades. The visualizations, presented by The Washington Post, group the types of jobs into five categories: arts and entertainment, business, medicine, science and engineering, public service, and sports.
The visualizations show the number of jobs in each category as circles, with the size of the circle representing the number of jobs. Barbie has held a total of 334 jobs across all categories. Among these, she has held 121 jobs in arts and entertainment, 113 in business, and 100 in politics and public service.
However, the visualizations do not provide specific numbers for jobs in medicine, science, and engineering or sports. This could be due to the vast array of roles within these categories, making it difficult to represent them accurately in a visual format.
Barbie's first occupation was a model. Since then, she has taken on a multitude of roles, each reflecting a different aspect of professional life. Her career choices show a commendable effort to inspire children by portraying jobs that range from traditional professional roles to emerging STEM-focused occupations.
Examples from recent years highlight Barbie as a robotics engineer, emphasizing STEM fields, as well as a judge, reflecting legal professions. These roles illustrate Barbie’s evolving image as a role model representing diverse and aspirational careers for girls.
The focus on careers like robotics engineering and judge also points to Barbie's alignment with educational initiatives such as coding programs and representation of prominent societal roles. These visualizations serve as a testament to Barbie's historic and contemporary occupational diversity, centred around empowering young girls to explore varied career paths.
[1] Sources: The Washington Post, Mattel (Barbie's manufacturer)
- The visualizations indicate that Barbie has spent a significant part of her career journey in the business sector, holding 113 jobs there.
- Simultaneously, advancements in technology and society have led Barbie to venture into AI, becoming a versatile role model in the fashion-and-beauty and lifestyle industries.
