Diversifying Dolls

My three year old daughter got into Barbies shortly before Christmas, so I decided that Barbies would basically be the gift theme. I tried to get a diverse variety.

I am a white American and my husband is Indian. We live in India, but of course my kids possess American citizenship.

The four on the right end are Disney Princess my MIL got in a used set at a market a month or so before Christmas (think flea market.) So Ariel, Sleeping Beauty, Belle and Jasmine. The blond will the pink and blue dress was also purchased in advance of Christmas by my ILs.

The three on the left are Indian Barbies. So some representation plus gives us a man and a child. The doctor is an African American Barbie. I was a little disappointed when I realized her coloring is actually lighter than my husband's skin. Not that she doesn't represent some in that community but with the blatant colorism in India I'd like us to have darker dolls as well. I worry she'll think paler equals prettier, as that is definitely the message India tries to sell its citizens from every commercial and billboard. The doctor also has eyeglasses, which I couldn't find for this photo. That was also important because my daughter got a pair of her own right before Christmas.

The redhead Barbie was an impulse. She was inexpensive, but also my mother, my sisters, one of her cousins as well as many others in my extended family are redheads. She has since named the Barbie after her cousin!

And lastly the ballerina was a happy find. I had seen one for an enormous price on Amazon India, but then I found this one for less than half the price on snapdeal and was super excited. Even though Dreamer hasn't had lessons yet she calls herself a "ballet girl" and dances around the house constantly. This ballerina has skin and hair color very close to her own (you can see my daughter's hand on Jasmine on the right) even though she has green eyes. However since my own eyes are green, I don't think that makes her think of the doll as very different from herself.

This having been the Christmas of Barbies I don't plan to buy her anymore for the next few years, though maybe others will. Personally I played with Barbies until like age 11. The sad reality was aside from a few Indian Barbies in saris or legengas the only Barbies you see in the actual toystores here are blondes. I had to scour the internet intentionally to acquire this collection, and as you can see it isn't a perfect representation of the length and breadth of humanity by any means! I also get the whole Barbies are all the exact same proportions and as a woman whose hormone disorder caused her to gain 50 pounds (over 20 kgs) in three months when I was 12 with no change in diet and exercise believe me I am very aware of body image and the bullying associated with promoting one body standard. But Barbies are all around the same size so they can share clothes and I think there's other ways to address that thinking than banning a classic toy.

I don't mind my daughter playing with races that are not her own, but I don't want her only playing with any race. We are part of the expat community here and she's met people from all over the world: Republic of the Congo, Columbia, Thailand, England, Mozambique, France, South Africa, Canada, etc. I want her toys to reflect diversity as well.

What steps are you taking to represent diversity of culture and race in your own kids life? Is it important to you?