My interest in the Barbie Movie was about something other than nostalgia. Neither my mother nor I remember having a Barbie doll, but I had her dream house, so I must have had the Barbie doll. I watched the movie to see Issa Rae portrayed as the first Black Women President.
Dreams of Being a Mother
The Barbie Movie starts with images of little white girls playing with baby dolls. The narrator says before Barbie, little girls could only dream of being mothers.
I immediately thought about conversations with Nina E. Banks about Black women as mothers. Our co-edited book proposal starts with the following:
Black women in the United States are stereotyped as “lazy,” “bad mothers,” “welfare queens,” “angry,” and “unattractive as marriage partners.”
All false narratives.
In her research, Nina pointed out that Black women were devalued as mothers to their children:
…black women have been the most likely of all women to be employed in low-wage women’s jobs that involve cooking, cleaning, and caregiving even though this work is associated with mothering more broadly.
Who Gets to be a Mother?
The last time a U.S. Decennial Census survey asked about children ever born was on the 1990 Census. This meant women were asked to report all live births by all fathers, whether or not the children were still living (excluding stillbirths, adopted children, and stepchildren). Starting in 2006 American Community Survey (ACS) asked women about children born in the last year. This question has been asked every five years, 2006, 2011, 2016, and 2021. The Current Population Survey (CPS) Fertility Supplement has asked a version of this question since 1976. In general, Census questions about motherhood center on the child’s location, i.e., own children in the household.
The 1950 and 1960 Decennial Censuses limited the question to women who had been married. An unwed mother did not show up in the count of mothers. Similarly, a mother (father) whose child lives in a different household does not show up in the count of mothers.
This is absurd!
Being a mother (father) does not stop once your child leaves home.
I can attest that although I am grown and live in my own house, my mother reminds me that she is still my mother.
Language Ms. President
The narrator of the movie says Barbie symbolizes all the possibilities that a little girl could be hence, all the versions of Barbie in various occupations. I appreciated seeing an all-woman Supreme Court and a Black woman President.
Representation is important.
However, I didn’t appreciate that the Black woman President was the only character who used vulgarity – she called the Kens “Mofos.” While that language might fit Issa Rae’s real-life personality, it seemed inappropriate for “Barbieland,” especially since Lizzo sings
P, pretty
I, intelligent
N, never sad
K, cool
Wiser Generation
One of my favorite lines from the Barbie movie was when the Ruth Handler character said, “We mothers stand still so that our daughters can look back and see how far they’ve come.”
I have goddaughters, not daughters, but I want them to benefit from WISER’s work. The Women’s Institute for Science, Equity and Race exists so all daughters can look back and see how far we’ve come.
This is the fifth year of our annual WISER Women fundraising campaign. I hope you will contribute to our goal of raising $5,700 to support our mission of expanding women-focused research. Please consider donating $57 via PayPal Giving Fund (must have a PayPal account) or credit card (PayPal).
