Robotics Barbie encourages young girls to take up male-dominated careers

Barbie adds to her more traditional skill set of dancing with Ken and looking fabulous

LOS ANGELES: Barbie, the world's most iconic doll, is venturing into coding skills in her latest career as a robotics engineer.

This inspirational new version of Barbie will encourage young girls to embark on careers in engineering and the sciences, the iconic doll's manufacturer Mattel said on Tuesday.

Barbie, who first hit the shelves in 1959, prides herself on trying out jobs where women aren't strongly represented, to add to her more traditional skill set of dancing with Ken and looking fabulous.

PHOTO: CNET

The company has announced a "Career of the year" Barbie who just happens to be a robotics engineer - a job that in real-life is occupied almost nine times out of ten by men.

Kids aren't just supposed to play make-believe with the newest Barbie, however, as Mattel has partnered with games platform Tynker to provide owners with online coding experiences. "For almost 60 years, Barbie has exposed girls to roles where women are underrepresented to show them that they can be anything," Lisa McKnight, Mattel's senior vice president for Barbie, said in statement.

PHOTO: CNET

"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." The new doll joins a lineup of more than 200 careers held by Barbie, "all of which reinforce the brand's purpose to inspire the limitless potential in every girl," Mattel said in a statement.

Only 24% of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) jobs in the United States are held by women. The new doll aims to encourage girls as young as seven to learn real coding skills, thanks to a partnership with the kids game-based computing platform Tynker, toymaker Mattel said.

PHOTO: COSMOPOLITAN

Robotics engineer Barbie, dressed in jeans, a graphic T-shirt, denim jacket and wearing safety glasses, comes with six free Barbie-inspired coding lessons designed to teach logic, problem solving and the building blocks of coding.

The lessons show girls, for example, how to build robots, get them to move at a dance party, or do jumping jacks.

According to US Department of Commerce statistics, only 24 percent of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) jobs were held by women in 2017.

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Tynker co-funder Krishna Vedati said in a statement that the company's mission to empower youth worldwide made Barbie an ideal partner "to help us introduce programming to a large number of kids in a fun engaging way."

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