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Chloe Kim (and 11 other women) are being made into Barbies!

Time to read up on your herstory! March is Women's History Month, aka the perfect time to learn more about the women who made striking innovations, even when the odds were completely against them. Mattel is taking a big step forward toward this with their newest line of Barbie dolls. The toy company is creating a new series called "Inspiring Women," made to showcase women leaders of today and yesterday.

The new line of dolls will feature Amelia Earhart, Frida Kahlo and Katherine Johnson. Earhart was the first woman to pilot a flight across the Atlantic Ocean, Kahlo was a unique Mexican artist and a feminist activist. Johnson was one of the women featured in the recent movie Hidden Figures. It was her mathematical calculations that helped plan the trajectories for the Apollo 11 mission to the moon. Her work not only broke gender boundaries, but racial ones too. These are just the first three women to be honored, but more are to come as the dolls hit the shelves on May 10. 

Each doll comes with educational information about the real-life woman so girls can understand their history and accomplishments. Barbie decided to make this series because they want girls to be inspired by the toys they play with. Mattel's goal is that these women's stories will show girls everywhere what a strong woman looks like. 

“As a brand that inspires the limitless potential in girls, Barbie will be honoring its largest line up of role models timed to International Women’s Day, because we know that you can’t be what you can’t see,” Lisa McKnight, the senior vice president and general manager of Barbie, said in a statement. 

Barbie also created a line called "Shero" back in 2015. This line of dolls was not meant to be sold, but rather highlight women who achieved amazing things in their field. Some of the dolls include ballerina Misty Copeland, model Ashley Graham and Olympic gymanst Gabby Douglas, below (whose doll actually ended up selling in stores). 

This week, Barbie released 14 more dolls for the collection, some of which include Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins and Olympic snowboarder Chloe Kim. There are also global role models like boxer Nicola Adams from Britain and designer and entrepreneur Leyla Piedayesh, an Iranian immigrant. 

"Girls have always been able to play out different roles and careers with Barbie and we are thrilled to shine a light on real-life role models to remind them that they can be anything," said McKnight. 

We're totally inspired by these real-life role models. Which doll is your favorite? Let us know in the comments!

Photo Credit: Mattel

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by Alyson Trager | 3/8/2018
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