The Baby doll and Barbie doll play contrasting roles in shaping girls' perceptions of gender norms. Baby dolls typically reinforce conventional ideas of motherhood, as noted by Miriam Forman-Brunell (2009). On the other hand, Barbie dolls have recently been portrayed as symbols that challenge typical notions of femininity, as seen in the Barbie movie teaser.
Both types of dolls impact how girls understand gender roles (Markee & Pedersen, 1994). Historically, Barbie dolls have emphasized unrealistic beauty standards, reflecting a narrow perspective of femininity (Ho, 2023; Miriam Forman-Brunell, 2009). However, since the recent Barbie movie (Gerwing, 2023) there is a shift in this representation which is challenging Baby dolls. Already the teaser of the movie explicitly shows that Barbie encourages girls to explore roles beyond motherhood, emphasizing that women can express femininity in diverse ways of their choice (Ho, 2023).
In a study by Markee and Pedersen (1994), researchers observed how girls interacted with Baby dolls versus Barbie dolls. While girls tended to adopt maternal roles when playing with Baby dolls, they exhibited more diverse and imaginative role-playing with Barbie dolls. Barbie's presence in this play scene (Gerwing, 2023) makes the girls wanting to break away from traditional motherhood roles, symbolized by their Baby dolls, and explore expressions of femininity beyond that. Likewise, an examined play shows that girls styled their Barbie dolls and imagined them in different roles (Markee & Pedersen, 1994).
