Skip to footer

Barbie now wears a hijab, inspired by US Olympic fencer

Mattel announced its first hijab-wearing doll after US Olympian Ibtihaj Muhammad won gold in the 2016 Rio Games. Many see Barbie's new accessory as another sign of increasing acceptance of the traditional Islamic garment in Western culture. 

|
Andrew Kelly/Reuters
Olympic fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad attends the Glamour Women of the Year Awards at the Kings Theater in Brooklyn, New York on Nov. 13 where she shows off the new hijab-wearing Barbie doll inspired by her gold winning performance at the 2016 Summer Games.
  • By Lin Taylor Thomson Reuters Foundation

| London

Doll company Barbie has unveiled its first hijab-wearing doll to honor an American Olympic fencer, as the traditional Islamic headscarf goes mainstream through catwalks, magazine covers, and "emoji" smartphone symbols.

Ibtihaj Muhammad made history in Rio last year as the first US Olympian to represent her country wearing a hijab, after earlier winning a gold medal in 2014 at the world fencing championships in Russia.

"I'm proud to know that little girls everywhere can now play with a Barbie who chooses to wear hijab! This is a childhood dream come true," the Olympian posted on Twitter late Monday.

The hijab – one of the most visible signs of Islamic culture – is becoming increasingly popular with Western businesses, from hijab-wearing models in top fashion magazines to Apple's recently launched "emoji" character in a hijab.

The hijab-wearing Barbie, produced by company Mattel, is part of Barbie's "Shero" line which recognizes women "who break boundaries to inspire the next generation of girls," and will go on sale in 2018, the company said.

"Ibtihaj is an inspiration to countless girls who never saw themselves represented," Barbie's marketing vice president Sejal Shah Miller said in a statement.

"By honoring her story, we hope this doll reminds them that they can be and do anything."

Many Muslim women cover their heads in public with the hijab as a sign of modesty, although some critics see it as a sign of female oppression.

Other dolls in the collection include African-American ballerina Misty Copeland, and Ava DuVernay, director of "Selma," a highly acclaimed film about the US civil rights movement.

In November, Danish toymaker Lego released figurines of five women scientists, engineers, and astronauts who worked for US space agency NASA to inspire more girls to pursue careers in science.

This story was reported by the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Barbie now wears a hijab, inspired by US Olympic fencer
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2017/1114/Barbie-now-wears-a-hijab-inspired-by-US-Olympic-fencer
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe