Mattel and Virgin Atlantic have announced the release of three new Barbie dolls to encourage young girls to pursue careers in aviation and STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths). The three new dolls, which form part of Barbie’s Dream Gap Project, include a pilot, an engineer and a member of the cabin crew.
Mattel and Virgin hope the joint initiative will increase the number of women into STEM and aviation careers – professions which are still very much dominated by men. According to Statistics from the Women’s Engineering Society only 12% of the UK engineering workforce is female and just 4.3% of UK pilots are women.
BRIDGING THE DREAM GAP
Research has identified that many girls begin to develop limiting self-beliefs at age five, and doubt their full potential – which Mattel refers to as the ‘Dream Gap’. So, in 2018, Mattel launched The Dream Gap project, in a bid to level the playing field for young girls globally, and show them that they can be ‘anything they want to be’ (watch video below).
“The fact so many young girls narrow their career prospects from an early age by believing that some roles and jobs simply are not for them is a tragedy,” commented Dawn Childs, President of the Women’s Engineering Society. “It’s not just a tragedy for them, but it denies businesses 50% of the potential future talent pool at a time when the engineering skills gap is widening and unsustainable. This fabulous initiative will help to normalise seeing women in these vital roles, and help them aim high in their future career aspirations.”
CHAMPIONING ASPIRATIONAL CAREERS
Over the last few years, Mattel has made an effort to ensure that its Barbie dolls are more diverse, embracing more races, sizes, abilities and careers. As part of the Dream Gap Project, Barbie releases a selection of dolls based on real women, to champion a range of exciting careers available to them. The new range developed in partnership with Virgin Atlantic, has been designed to inspire girls to shatter the glass ceiling in STEM and aviation.
The Virgin Atlantic range of Barbie dolls have been designed to show ethnic and body diversity, wearing real life uniforms required for the job. The pilot doll wears flat shoes and a pilot’s uniform complete with wings and badge. The engineer doll wears flat safety boots, an access lanyard and noise cancelling headphones, while the cabin crew doll pays homage to the iconic red Virgin Atlantic Vivienne Westwood uniform. Pilot and crew dolls will be sold on-board and in key retail partners, later in the year, confirms Virgin.
ENCOURAGING STEM SUCCESS
The joint initiative also includes a new social media campaign, #SeeHerFly, in order to raise awareness about the opportunities available to women in aviation.
Commenting on the partnership, Phil Maher, EVP Operations at Virgin Atlantic, stated: “It’s essential that Virgin Atlantic plays a pivotal role in encouraging women to succeed in STEM careers. Our partnership with Barbie allows us to speak directly to our future generation of aviation workers, whether they aspire to be pilots, cabin crew or engineers.”
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