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We Need Even More Role Models To Challenge Career Stereotypes


When playing is more than child’s play. ‘You can’t be what you can’t see.’  Role models are critical to breaking stereotypes and challenge barriers to gender equality. We know role models are essential in the journey of female leaders. Our book on Championing Women Leaders demonstrated the impact of role models of every female leader we interviewed. In most cases, role models were accessible, family members, teachers, neighbors, who directly impacted building the aspirations and ambitions of girls. As part of IWD2021, Mattel, Barbie, and Marie Claire hosted a round-table discussing the impact of diverse role models for girls. With a host of speakers, the message was clear – we need more diversity of role models for girls and women at every stage of their education and career path. In 2021 despite higher rates of women graduates in OECD countries, we still face barriers to girls accessing all subjects and career options. Research shows that girls have already shut down options of what they think they can do by the age of six, in response to this shocking data Barbie and Mattel have been championing The Dream Gap since 2018.

Girls begin their formal education, closing down options before they even have the chance to experience learning and new opportunities. The power of role models doesn’t start with teenage girls or young women launching their careers. Role models are essential to young girls before they even start school and continuing throughout their education. It may seem a stretch to think about dolls as role models, but in fact, we know the play and role-playing can be powerful for the development of children as they make sense of the world around them. Amongst the range of Barbie dolls breaking the mold, Mattel partnered with the European Space Agency (ESA) to launch a doll of ESA Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetii to celebrate Barbie’s sixtieth birthday in 2019. In March 2021, ESA announced a campaign with an open call to increase candidates’ diversity applying for careers with the space agency. Ersilia Vaudo, Chief Diversity at ESA, explains why the Mattel collaboration is important to build the pipeline of women STEM; “I really believe that the topic starts at elementary schools, with little girls, from six to eight years. They are developing their identity, and it’s a very delicate equilibrium between family and school,  social context, and expectations. We see stereotypes coming from the family, how parents interact with a brother, or school with teachers. Many elements create an invisible way that pushes girls out of STEM subjects.  So to have a toy like Barbie, it’s powerful. It’s something straightforward, and that fits easily into a girl’s life, and for girls to be able to project themselves, it is one of the stronger things you can do. With these role models, you have a toy and  a context, in a way, encourages you to think about the story behind the doll.” 

Turning dolls into role models opens up the conversations for girls about what it takes to be an astronaut, a sports star, a commentator. In each of these areas, the dolls open up powerful conversations for girls and their friends, parents, and teachers about how they can challenge the status quo and break into male-dominated fields. Barbie’s presence in different guises is a powerful step, but girls need more structured support along the way. During the roundtable, leaders from various initiatives shared their perspectives on the impact of role models and the need to keep pushing boundaries and introducing diverse role models for girls. Miriam Gonzalez Duarentez, the founder of Inspiring Girls, shared the need for more role models; “Growing up I wanted to be a politician, and I found it really difficult to access female role models. I have been aware of gender issues throughout my life and data has shown that 55% of girls aged 11-21 are looking for access to female role models. There isn’t an issue finding role models, but in connecting them. They don’t make it into magazines or television programmes so Inspiring Girls is all about connecting them – we’re doing more of this with a greater intensity post-Covid.” Her Inspiring Girls has connected over 300 female role models with girls in twenty countries and, in doing so, highlights a particular challenge with role models; we are not short of role models on public platforms and social media, but what really makes having access to role models who can influence and shape decisions.

Role models in posters, superstars, and celebrities are important to raise awareness. Media presence needs to change the narrative of what careers look like. Think about films and TV shows that have challenged female characters’ perceptions; consider Big Bang Theory and the brilliant Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler played by Dr. Mayim Chaya Bailik, who has a Ph.D. in neuroscience. Netflix and Disney are two examples of streaming services promoting programs with strong female leads who challenge stereotypes and normalize girls’ voices with powerful ambitions. The presence of these images in the presence of a powerful backdrop to shape who has access to careers; but the real power comes as individuals have a direct impact on girls. Dagmar Schumacher, Director of the Brussels Office for the UN Women explains why we need to pivot on what we mean when we discuss role models; “Often the impact of role models occurs by chance, it just so happens that you happen to be with someone who inspires you. I happened to read books with a great female character or, I happened to have a great teacher who gave me strength. We need to make the impact of role models more intentional, so that we ensure girls have access to role models and it doesn’t happen by chance. This means we need to create opportunities for girls to have this role model experiences early on in their education and development.”  Dagmar goes on to explain the power and sustained impact of intentions; “We see progress, but it’s slow; we have seen a doubling of women in Parliaments over the last 25 years, but we still have a low of 25% representation today. It just takes too long, and we will lose again one or two or maybe three generations, until we really reach equality so we do have to be much more intentional”.

Being intentional doesn’t start and stop with role models but questions where effort is going and needs to be sustained to create progress at a faster rate for gender equality in the workplace. To create an impact that achieves change and progress requires consciously building the infrastructure to support the pipeline of women into education and career paths that are still male-dominated. The UN estimates the pandemic will push 47 million more women and girls below the poverty line, and only one in eight countries worldwide has measures in place to protect women from a social and economic fallout; Andrea Thompson, Editor-in-Chief at Marie Claire, describes this as ‘reversing decades of progress’. 

We know work on gender diversity is complex and requires many different levers to continuously move and make progress, but for every individual stepping up and intentionally creating role models for girls, students, and young career women is not an optional extra but an imperative. In the world of women in senior leadership, we say one isn’t done, and the same is applied to role models. When asked who was your role model?’ the next generation of female leaders should be able to answer, I had a tribe. So as part of IWD2021 #ChooseToChallenge by stepping up and bringing more role models to girls who need to see you, hear you, and, more importantly,  speak to you to challenge stereotypes for career paths.



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