Who Defines Womenhood? Femininity Constructed by Men

Who defines gender roles? Who defines what it means to be a woman or a man? Unfortunately, gender stereotypes are often shaped by men for the benefit of men. A Doll's House premiered in 1879 and The Barbie Movie in 2023 displays gender stereotypes and roles regardless of the 144 years in between. The irony is that both were created by a man. While there has been a lot of change in the past 144 years, The Barbie Movie highlights women's continued struggles in a world shaped by gender roles. 

In The Barbie Movie, Barbieland seems to be a feminist utopia where women have all the power and all Barbies believe that the real world is the same. However, when Barbie steps into the real world, she realizes that her beliefs are a fantasy and is faced with gender roles in the real world. The real world was a Barbieland for men, men held all the power, and women were expected to follow their decisions. Similarly in A Doll's House, Nora sacrifices herself to fit into this ideology of being the "perfect woman". Her husband Torvald belittles her by calling her "little lark... sulky squirrel..." highlighting the societal view of women as a pretty doll that accessorizes men (Ibsen, 101). The Barbie Movie mirrors this dynamic when Ken discovers patriarchy in the real world and implements it in Barbieland treating the Barbies as subservient figures. Ken's exaggerated enthusiasm for "men's rights" highlights the fragility of a society built on the power imbalance based on gender. 

Ironically, Barbie herself was created by men despite being marketed as a symbol of female empowerment. When she meets Mattel's all-male executive board, Barbie learns the reality that her identity is shaped based on external factors rather than her own. This makes it obvious that femininity is constructed by men, shaping women's roles and their image according to male expectations. Mirroring this, in A Doll's House, Nora realizes how she has shaped herself to fit this frame of a "perfect woman" her husband and the society made for her and decides to leave everything behind and start a new journey to find herself. 

While both The Barbie Movie and A Doll's House critique how femininity is shaped by external forces rather than by women themselves, in the past century society has attempted to mask this reality by creating the illusion of progress by offering women more opportunities while maintaining the male-dominated power structures.