Will Architect Barbie Help More Women Become Designers?

[M II A II R II K]

Will Architect Barbie Help More Women Become Designers?


February 25, 2011

By Alissa Walker

Read More: http://www.good.is/post/architecture...ome-designers/

Each year Americans make a very important decision that affects the future of our country. They choose the next career of a certain plastic icon. As part of the Barbie "I Can Be..." series, several vocations for the doll are suggested to the public, and Mattel asks us to choose which of these wide-ranging careers are most important for girls to emulate. Last year Architect was in the running—alongside Computer Engineer, News Anchor, and Environmentalist—sparking a wave of design-centric support. Architect didn't win the popular vote as the next doll to be produced, but a year later, Mattel announced at the annual Toy Industry Association Toy Fair that Architect Barbie was indeed in the blueprint phase. Later this summer, you'll finally be able to meet (and purchase) Architect Barbie.

There has been much discussion in the design community over the last week about Barbie's sudden ascension into the ranks. Mostly, about how Mattel got it all wrong. Architizer interviewed the handful of female architects who won the AIA's Young Architect Prize about Barbie. They commented, mostly, about her clothes and accessories. Carrying an outdated document tube! Wearing high-heeled boots on a construction site! I'm not really as concerned about all that—first of all, she's a doll; second, her feet are molded into that permanent tippy-toe, she can only wear heels, people. But I'm honestly interested in the real impact that this doll could have on how many women enter the design field.

You may remember a piece that I wrote last year, "Where My Ladies At?" In it, I uncovered some interesting statistics about the industrial design field. Even though, anecdotally, women make up about half of design students, when it comes to practicing industrial designers, the number of women drops to about 10 to 15 percent. It's slightly better for architects. There's a statement about Architect Barbie at the site of the American Institute of Architects which notes that only 17 percent of their ranks are female. Can a doll, especially one as iconic as Barbie, sell young girls on a future career? Mattel thinks so: "Barbie inspires girls to try on different careers, encouraging them to play out their dreams and explore the world and all of its possibilities without ever having to leave home," Mattel spokesperson Michelle Chidoni told the AIA. "We believe role-playing with Barbie leads to real life opportunities, and are very proud to introduce I Can Be...Architect Barbie as our 2011 career of the year."

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[SkyscrapersOfNewYork]

i doubt it...

[Alliance]

Yes, because women based their career decisions on barbie.

[Roadcruiser1]

Most likely not. I think if you give young girls pencils to draw, and sketch, and teach them about art, designing, and building at a young age you would make some of them potential architects. I am a male teenager in my late teenage years, and I would love to get a masters in architecture, and later on engineering, but I was inspired to be an architect, and potentially a civil engineer by the original World Trade Center which I remember from my younger years.

[Jasoncw]

Architect Barbie will make little girls want to become designers, but they'll be "designers" like the ones on HGTV are "designers" (go on decorating shopping sprees, do arts and crafts, do cutesy themeing, etc.).

Skip Barbies and give the girls Legos.

[M II A II R II K]

It could act as a catalyst to get them interested in the things that would legitimately get one interested in designing architecture perhaps.

[Amanita]

I was one oddball kid- I had barbies and he-man figures as a kid, and loved to play with them all. And yes, I would have loved an Architect barbie.

I never became an architect myself- my math skills were pretty lousy. But I'm sure you all know how much I love bridges, skyscrapers, and other cool things like that!

[wrab]

Only if you want to see a lot of pink buildings, pink construction crews and pink blueprints.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by Jasoncw

Architect Barbie will make little girls want to become designers, but they'll be "designers" like the ones on HGTV are "designers" (go on decorating shopping sprees, do arts and crafts, do cutesy themeing, etc.).

Skip Barbies and give the girls Legos.

That's a little cynical. Obviously Legos are awesome, but I don't think Barbie dolls have much of any effect on what careers women end up in. I also don't think a woman has to be butch to be a good designer. I've met plenty of female architects who are good-looking and perfectly comfortable doing feminine things.

It's all a moot point anyway - hell, most people of both sexes are undecided about career paths when they graduate from high school. The only toys that might influence career choices are those that encourage a practical skill or a certain way of thinking. To my mind, Barbie does neither. Would anybody argue that a teddy bear encourages kids to become zoologists?

The thing that pushed me to be an architect was a little thing my third-grade teacher did about Chicago architecture. It was great - we built models of Chicago buildings (I did the Water Tower) and we did structural things with marshmallows and toothpicks. Of course, I lived in the city at a very young age, too, so I got to experience it all pretty much from birth. I was born in Goldberg's Prentice Pavilion!