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The latest Barbie doll has launched, and this time her career is hoping to inspire the next generation of women working in STEM industries.
Mattel’s Robotics Engineer Barbie has been specifically designed to pique girls’ interest in STEM and shine a light on an underrepresented career field for women.
Toy News reports that with only 24 percent of STEM jobs held by women, the Barbie brand is aiming to encourage girls to explore STEM through imaginative play, and learn real coding skills along the way.
The new doll is part of a multi-year partnership with kids coding platform Tynker, and Mattel will be launching six free Barbie-inspired coding experiences designed to teach logic, problem-solving, and the building blocks of coding, while casting young learners in different roles alongside Barbie.
“For almost 60 years, Barbie has exposed girls to roles where women are underrepresented to show them that they can be anything,” said Lisa McKnight, General Manager and Senior Vice President, Barbie.
“By playing with Robotics Engineer Barbie on and offline, we are giving girls a new platform for play in their imaginary world and teaching them important skills for their real world.”
Krishna Vedati, co-founder and CEO, Tynker, added: “Our mission is to empower youth to become the makers of tomorrow through coding, and the Barbie brand is an ideal partner to help us introduce programming to a large number of kids in a fun, engaging way.
“It’s critical that all young learners have an opportunity to explore the possibilities available in STEM fields, and Tynker’s Barbie programming experience is a valuable tool to introduce kids of all ages to these concepts while building their coding skills.”
Mattel is also partnering with Black Girls CODE, releasing a coding e-book, and will debut more Tynker coding content throughout its multi-year partnership with the platform.
