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International Women’s Day is on March 8 and just a day later, on March 9, is National Barbie Day, celebrating the day Barbie made her debut in stores. This year will mark Barbie’s 65th anniversary and Mattel is celebrating both days by launching a limited-edition doll that’s inspired by the OG Barbie from 1959. But these aren’t just any limited-edition dolls! These dolls will honor eight inspiring women from around the world. These women include activists, actresses, songwriters, directors, content creators, and more.
In honor of International Women’s Day on March 8, Mattel is honoring eight women role models from around the globe with their own one-of-a-kind Barbie doll. This celebration of women also just so happens to coincide with Barbie’s own 65th birthday, which is March 9 — a fitting way to honor women this whole week.
The role models being honored with their own Barbies this International Women’s Day are:
Viola Davis (United States): Actress, activist, author
Shania Twain (Canada): Musician, style icon
Helen Mirren (United Kingdom): Actress, advocate for women
Kylie Minogue (Australia): Musician
Maira Gomez (Brazil): Content creator
Lila Avilés (Mexico): Director, producer and screenwriter
Nicole Fujita (Japan): Model, TV personality
Enissa Amani (Germany): Comedian, activist
“Girls in particular need to be able to see women telling their own stories, writing their own narratives, living out their own dreams, and we’re happy to honor these women in celebration of Barbie’s 65th,” Kim Culmone, senior vice president and head of design for dolls, tells PEOPLE exclusively of the lineup Mattel has created for International Women’s Day.
The one-of-a-kind dolls, which were created especially for the role models, will not be sold in stores, but instead are given to each woman as a gesture of gratitude for the work they’ve done.
“For many years, we realized we had an opportunity not only to position Barbie as a role model, but to use the brand to create likeness dolls of real women to give girls exposure to real people breaking through glass ceilings and achieving amazing things,” says Lisa McKnight, executive vice president and chief brand officer for Mattel to PEOPLE exclusively. “This year we’re honoring an amazing group of women most notably known as storytellers, songwriters and actors because we believe that storytelling is such a critical way to inspire and communicate and help people appreciate the journeys that these amazing women have been through.”
This is pretty neat. What an honor to be featured as one of these exclusive dolls! I wish they would make them available in stores so collectors or fans could share in the celebration of these women, too. Or, better yet, it would be really cool if Mattel did something similar to Hasbro’s now defunct Selfie Series, which had fans take pictures of themselves through an app and put their likeness on an action figure. Mr. Rosie has one with his head on a Ghostbuster, lol. It would be neat if Mattel did some limited-run where they let girls and women create a Barbie with their face on it. What better way to honor women than by letting them honor themselves?
