Meghna Amin
The scientist who designed the Oxford Astra Zeneca vaccine is among six women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) being honoured with a Barbie doll.
“she hoped it would inspire children.”
Mattel, the company which designs and produces Barbies, has recently announced a new line of role model Barbies, including one inspired by Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert.
According to the BBC, Dame Gilbert said the creation seemed “very strange” to her at first, but she hoped it would inspire children. She said: “My wish is that my doll will show children careers they may not be aware of, like a vaccinologist.
“I am passionate about inspiring the next generation of girls into STEM careers and hope that children who see my Barbie will realise how vital careers in science are to help the world around us.”
She also chose non-profit organisation Women in Science & Engineering to receive a financial donation from Mattel.
Dame Gilbert was presented with her damehood in the Queen’s Birthday Honours earlier this year. She began designing Oxford-AstraZeneca, the most widely used vaccine around the world, in early 2020 after Covid-19 first appeared in China.
Five Other Role Model Barbies
The five other role model Barbies include women around the world who have impacted and benefited their local communities and globally during the pandemic:
- Dr Kirby White – an Australian medic who co-founded ‘Gowns for Doctors’, creating reusable gowns for health workers and frontline workers, and who has won a Local Hero Award in the Australian of the Year Awards
- Jacqueline Goés de Jesus – a Brazilian biomedical researcher who led the sequencing of the genome of one of the Covid-19 variants
- Amy O’Sullivan – a nurse who treated the first Covid-19 patient at the Wycoff Hospital in New York
- Dr Audrey Cruz – a frontline doctor in Las Vegas who fought with Asian-American physicians to battle racial bias and discrimination
- Chika Stacy Oriuwa – a Canadian psychiatry resident who fought against systemic racism within the healthcare industry.
This new line up is one of Mattel’s more recent and forward-thinking additions to the Barbie doll brand. They’ve moved away from their original model, depicting an unrealistic image of women, to offering role model Barbies such as doctors and astronauts in a range of skin tones.
Other UK Barbie role models have included broadcaster Clara Amfo, the fastest woman in British history Dina Asher-Smith, champion skateboarder Sky Brown, boxer Nicola Adams, and activist and model Adwoa Aboah.
Featured image courtesy of Rob Laughter via Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes have been made to this image.
Meghna Amin
An English and Philosophy Durham graduate, currently studying an NCTJ with News Associates - on placement at The Daily Mail