Barbie can be a computer engineer ... but only with help of a man

‘I’ll need Steven and Brian’s help to turn this into a real game!’ laughs computer programmer Barbie in new book

Breaking away from her pink heels, pink ball gown and oversized pink hairbrush, Barbie – the fashion doll manufactured by Mattel – now has a range of gender-stereotype-breaking books. In the “I can be” series, we learn that Barbie can be president, a sports star and a computer engineer ... except in the latter case she needs the help of a man.

Pamela Ribon, a writer at Walt Disney animation studios, this week pointed out the sexism on her blog when she picked up the Barbie: I can be a Computer Engineer children’s book, published by Random House US.

In a book intended to inspire young girls, Barbie the programmer, who wears a pink heart-shaped USB drive around her neck, needs help to reboot her computer. And one passage from the book reveals that this computer engineer cannot even code:

At breakfast one morning, Barbie is already hard at work on her laptop.

“What are you doing, Barbie?” asks Skipper.

“I’m designing a game that shows kids how computers work,” explains Barbie. “You can make a robot puppy do cute tricks by matching up colored blocks!”

“Your robot puppy is so sweet,” says Skipper. “Can I play your game?”

“I’m only creating the design ideas,” Barbie says, laughing. “I’ll need Steven and Brian’s help to turn it into a real game!”

The reviews on Amazon, the online shopping site, have not been complimentary:

A “Feminist Hacker Barbie” website is now taking in submissions for suggested amendments to the book, to help portray Barbie as “the competent, independent, bad-ass engineer that she wants to be”:

This isn’t the first time in Barbie’s 55-year history that her stereotypical career choices have caused controversy. In a psychology study released earlier this year, it was shown that playing with Barbies affected the career aspirations of young girls. After a few minutes of play, researchers from Oregan State university asked the girls if they could do any of 10 listed occupations – half of which were traditionally male-dominated and half female-dominated – when they grew up. Boys were also asked the same questions.

The results showed that girls who played with Barbie thought they could do fewer jobs than boys could do; there was no difference in results when girls played with a “fashion” or “career” version of the doll.

In contrast, girls playing with a Mrs Potato Head toy reported a smaller difference of possible future careers in comparison to boys.

Random House has been contacted for comment.

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