Welcome to my third post for Women’s History Month!  This month is a celebration of women’s accomplishments, the significant personal and societal roles they have always played and how they inspire others today and throughout history.  This month is meant to remind us of the achievements of women in our culture and society.  It’s important to note that none of my posts are meant to minimize the role of men vs women in my life or business career.  In fact, the most influential mentors that I have had in my career, were men who guided me and showed me that I could succeed in a field where women were the minority in leadership and ownership positions.

Ruth Handler was different than other women of her era and her invention of Barbie was unique…especially when Barbie became an international phenomenon!  She became a businesswoman at a time when there were really no women in business…especially the upper management of business. She was the driving force of Mattel but was never the President, she made her husband the President and she was only a Vice President.

Ruth often always felt she was a loner because of her business and didn’t have any real friends.  She said “Everybody knew me; I knew nobody”.  In addition, she never had any formal business education and she quickly realized that even though others had a business education, they had less business experience than she did.  Her rise in the corporate world that was dominated by men made her a target.  They called her loudmouthed and profane behind her back.

But because of Ruth’s power, she got a great deal of satisfaction from being the only woman at this level of business.  And in the late 1960’s, Mattel had more women executives than other companies.  If mistakes were made, she quickly grasped her errors, corrected them, and moved on.

“I always said if a woman is going to make it she has to work twice as hard, three times as hard, be available at all times to be a mother, wife, and to the business.”  In fact, her daughter Barbara, resented the fact that her mother was not like other mothers in that she didn’t stay at home but went to an office every day and often worked late.

Ruth’s relationship with her husband Elliot she felt was made stronger by their collaboration in the workplace.  She often said that the respect they had for each other was more important than love.  She said that they probably would not have survived their crazy Mattel life if they didn’t have mutual respect.

I am telling you all these facts because maybe things are different today because of Ruth Handler.  It is now acceptable for women to be at the top of corporations (although not necessarily as many as we would still like).  I would also like to think that men do not think that we are “loudmouthed” but instead successful, driven and believe in ourselves (although I would still argue that some men are “intimidated” by a successful woman but thankfully most are not).  And finally, I think her relationship with her husband made her a better woman, the fact that they worked together and respected each other in every aspect of their life is what a marriage should be.

I will leave you with this final though as I tie Ruth Handler to Barbie…

“Barbie should be used for every little girl’s personality and through Barbie each little girl could project her own personality”.