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The First Hijab-Wearing Barbie Doll is Here and Proud!

U.S. Olympic fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad with the first hijab-wearing Barbie doll designed after her, at Glamour's 2017 Women of the Year Summit. Photo credit: Getty Images

Thanks to a very progressive consideration, more girls can now proudly sing they too are a Barbie girl! Olympic fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad, who made history last year for being the very first American athlete to compete in the Olympics while wearing a hijab, has made another important dream come true this year: she got to design the first ever hijab-wearing Barbie doll.

As Ibtihaj Muhammad herself said at the Glamour Women of the Year Summit 2017, where the hijah-wearing Barbie doll was first unveiled, "When I was growing up, I didn't have many options of dolls that looked like me." This lack of representation even in toys prompted Muhammad as a young girl to make her own tiny hijabs and sew them onto her dolls with her sisters. But that all changed this year, when Mattel invited Muhammad to design a Barbie doll inspired by her, a duty which the Olympic fencer didn't take lightly. "This is such a big moment for little girls everywhere" concerning representation, Muhammad recognized. 

For that, Muhammad was very much involved in the design process of developing the first ever hijah-wearing Barbie doll and worked closely with Robert Best, who designs for Barbie, in creating a doll that felt authentic to her identity but also inclusive and representative of diversity. While helping create the doll, Muhammad stressed the importance of the hijab being made of fabric that was "thicker so it couldn't be seen through," Best said, as well as making sure the doll had big, strong athletic legs like her. As Muhammad recognized, "When I was a kid, I remember people commenting on the size of my thighs," but after being involved in sports she "came to appreciate [her] body," for which authenticity in body shape was also important to her as well. All of her input combined by the efforts put by Mattel in developing the doll help ultimately create a truly inclusive, fantastic, first ever hijab-wearing Barbie doll, which was unveiled for the first time on November 13 at the Glamour Women of the Year Summit 2017. 

Although Muhammad was an important collaborator in the creation of this doll and was very much involved in the design process of developing the hijab-wearing doll, like everyone else she didn't get to actually see it in person for the first time until at the Glamour Women of the Year Summit 2017. Upon seeing the doll inspired by her for the first time, Muhammad happily exclaimed, "I don't know if you can tell, but I'm so excited!" We are too, Ibtihaj. 

While the creation of a hijab-wearing Barbie doll might not seem like a big deal, it really is.

Not only has no Barbie doll been made before wearing a hijab and its a historic first (just like Muhammad's historic first as the first American athlete to compete in the Olympics with a hijab - talk about #GirlBoss), but the creation of a Barbie doll that is authentic to Ibtihaj Muhammad in dress and body shape is imperative in making a progressive statement about inclusivity and the importance of representation of diverse cultures and shapes, which deserve to be tolerated and are as valid as others. As Muhammad said when visiting the Mattel factory to make her inspired Barbie doll, "being a Muslim girl involved in the sport of fencing, there were people who made me feel like I didn't belong," but for "all those people who didn't believe in me, this Barbie doll is for you." 

Muhammad wasn't the only one who noticed the strong importance of her hijab-wearing Barbie doll, as singer Miley Cyrus voiced her support for the new inclusive doll on Twitter.



Representation is truly important, especially starting with the toys that kids grow up playing with and can help them grow up and shape their sense of themselves and others around them. Progressive minded toys can help inspire equally progressive minded children, which is something Muhammad hopes will be accomplished through the Barbie doll inspired by her, saying "I hope that little girls of colors across the heartland will be inspired to embrace what makes them unique."

The Ibtihaj Muhammad-inspired Barbie doll will be out until 2018. Although it will be a small wait until children and I can get the doll, the sense of more inclusion, representation, and embracing of cultural diversity is already being felt - and it sure is lovely.

A happy, very happy, Dora Goto

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