While Barbie’s career options have increased, there is clearly still room for improvement
In her elegant qualitative study, Katherine Klamer dares the reader to dream bigger for a rising generation of girls.1 In an analysis of nearly 90 Barbies, Klamer found that Barbie brand medical professional dolls largely treated children (63%, n=48/76), with only three dolls (4%, n=3/76) working with adults. 59% of the Barbie brand dolls were white, 28% black, and 6% East Asian, and none had any physical disabilities. All Barbie brand doctors appeared to have either no specialization or were paediatricians with no apparent sub-specialization. Analysis showed that the dolls’ personal safety accessories were inadequate for standard practice; 98% of the Barbie brand dolls came with stethoscopes yet only 4% had face masks. Overall, the group of Barbies showed only a very limited range of medical careers.1 As surgeons in decidedly male dominated fields, we support Klamer’s conclusion that Barbi
Ada S. Mckinley (Chicago, Ill.) Newly released scholarly research about Chicago social reformer Ada S. McKinley indicates her contributions to Chicago and to the field of human services have been ignored and marginalized due to her race. The report has spurred the 102-year old nonprofit she founded to call for the rewriting of history books to inform the public of one of the nation’s most profoundly successful, yet unheralded human services pioneers.
As we celebrate Black History Month, Ada S. McKinley Community Services CEO Jamal Malone says now is the time for historians, government leaders and the public to help correct what the researchers describe as “white privileged history,” and tell the story of the heroine of Chicago’s South Side.