Barbie: The Computer Engineer

By Emily Schwarz

Mattel just announced a new career for Barbie: Computer Engineer. They’ve held an online vote for a couple of months and it is no surprise that the support for Computer Engineer Barbie was overwhelming. I myself voted five times in a row, and some real CEs out there most likely set up scripts to vote. Isn’t that just amazingly geeky?

I was stoked when I read this news from their website (actually I was just heading there to vote a couple more times). So stoked, in fact, that I browsed various news articles on the subject. I was surprised and dismayed by the overwhelming negativity on the subject. I know I shouldn’t be surprised by the amount of the hate on the internet, but this struck home. I’m posting this article to address some of the nasty concerns made by mean spirited cynics who can’t seem to let us have any fun.

“I’m a [insert tech job title here] and I’ve never seen a woman engineer that looks anything like Barbie. They are all [insert insult about women who don’t look like Barbie here].”

This is by far the most common comment. While the last part of the statement is optional, it is often very rude. No wonder women feel intimidated entering male dominated careers.  Way to show your true colors guys. Maybe there would be more women of all looks coming in if you guys weren’t such pigs. The first part is, well, true. Most women period don’t look like Barbie. Most women News Anchors don’t look like News Anchor Barbie either. That’s not the point. This is Barbie being a Computer Engineer, not some sort of realistic representation of what CEs are or should be.

“This is insulting.”

“Barbie already creates unrealistic expectations of what a girl should be.”

“I thought geek girls didn’t care about the superficiality of Barbie.”

Way to be a feminist killjoy. Do you not let your daughters play with dolls? At least this lets young girls know that it’s okay to be a scientist/engineer/geek. It’s a step in the right direction. Sure this Barbie will undoubtedly spend more time with Ken than writing software but that’s okay. Taking the “high road” and opting out of anything pop culture because its “superficial” just means that less women will grow up thinking its okay to be a geek.

“I would never wear that.”

“That’s unprofessional.”

Umm . . . . her outfit is actually really cute. Not realistic, but cute. I don’t know about Computer Engineers, but a lot of software jobs tend to have casual dress most of the time unless it's time to meet a client. News anchor Barbie’s outfit isn’t exactly what a news anchor would wear either. I could see a less Barbie-tastic version of that outfit being worn by someone. Welcome to the 21ist century. Also, why does it need to be spot on?It is called “make believe” and that is something you do with dolls. The people in The Sims don’t exactly dress like normal people but no one would spend the breath to say “that’s unrealistic."

No little girl actually believes Barbie is a pure expression of reality.  She's just a doll you can dress up and make believe things with. And if by some miracle some little girl wants CE Barbie because they like her outfit or that she comes with a labtop well then . . . . that sounds like a good thing to me. Good for geeks, good for those of us who find the gender gap in the computing sciences disturbing, and good for girls who get to grow up and be as smart as and make as much money as the boys.