LEGO & Barbie Reveal Their New Line Of Dolls: Smart Girls!

This week, toy company LEGO made a very important step which will affect the lives of young boys and girls forever and how they view the world: they released their female lab scientist block figurine.

While the company has previously made a range of scientist figures, very few of them have been women, so this is kinda a big deal! The website describes the scientist like this:

“The brilliant Scientist’s specialty is finding new and interesting ways to combine things together. She’ll spend all night in her lab analyzing how to connect bricks of different sizes and shapes (she won the coveted Nobrick Prize for her discovery of the theoretical System/DUPLO® Interface!), or how to mix two colors in one element.”

This block figure is part of the Minifigure Series 11. Last year Lego released a “Friends” series which was focused on and aimed at girls. It showed them having careers as inventors and veterinarians just to name a few, encouraging young girls to think beyond the “pretty pink princess” mentality when it comes to what what they want to be when they grow up.

We think its fantastic that the big giants in the toy world, who are instrumental in shaping the perspective of a child’s future are extending the boundaries to make women more multi-dimensional, who aren’t just valued for physical appearances.

But it ain’t just Lego either! It seems Barbie has a range of smart girls to encourage its young buyers that life is more about big blonde bouffant hair and unrealistic plastic body proportions (can we get a “hallelujah!?).

Early August, 2013, Mattel announced it had teamed up with NASA on the one year anniversary of the Curiosity Rover landing on Mars, to release a “Mars Explorer Barbie”.

It is part of Barbie’s “I Can Be” series and this space girl in particular was created to “inspire girls to be adventurous and to always reach for the stars!” This marks the 130th career for Barbie.

Back in February 2010 Mattel released a ‘Computer Software Engineer’ Barbie in the same ‘I Can Be’ series, complete with her own cubicle, glasses, and a poster of Ken on her desk (obviously). That year seemed to mark a shift in the company’s portrayal of its famous doll, showing Barbie in a range of careers. They now are available as professional athletes, dentists, news anchors, architects and teachers.

To see both these companies keeping in mind its female consumers, which in Lego’s case is not the majority, is very encouraging. We hope more companies will follow suit and realize educating the younger generations about career choices, life choices and image is important.

At the end of the day, we all make our own choices in life as we grow up. But, while our children are young, we have the power to present them with a variety of careers, cultures, and thought-patterns,  and enable them to make better decisions.

Here’s to the next generation of smart, intelligent, caring young women, thanks in part to the toys they grew up with who influenced and inspired them.