Last week, Barbie launched its Ibtihaj Muhammad doll, honouring the fencing champion who was the first Muslim-American woman to wear a hijab while competing. Ibtihaj is the latest addition to Mattel’s ‘Sheroes’, a collection of dolls celebrating powerful female role models with artist Frida Kahlo and model/activist Ashley Graham amongst its impressive line-up. This got the Grazia team thinking about our own nominations, so here are our Sheroes – the women we want to see honoured in this way.
Raha Moharrak
Mountaineer and Grazia Girl Gang Ambassador Raha Moharrak is the youngest Arab and first Saudi woman to scale the seven summits – including the foreboding Mount Everest. Even more impressive, the adventurer trained herself for the climbs. Barbie is long overdue some walking boots and an ice pick, don’t you think?
Huda Kattan
Savvy CEO and company founder Huda Kattan built her beauty empire from the ground. Starting out with a simple blog, her social channels soon gained a cult following prompting the entrepreneur to launch her first lash line. Now she’s at the helm of a multi-million dollar business and tops Instagram’s rich list. That’s what we call business sense!
Caitlin Moran
Award-winning journalist and author Caitlin Moran doesn’t skirt around issues – breaking taboo after taboo, the writer tackles topics like femininity and womanhood head on. Often frank, always honest, her humour and wit have seen us chuckle and nod in agreement many a time.
Manal Al-Sharif
Women’s rights activist, Manal Al-Sharif, helped start ‘Women2Drive’ and began campaigning for women’s right to drive in Saudi Arabia back in 2011. The ban on women driving was finally lifted in June 2018, and Manal is still working for the liberation of women; she has also penned her first novel, Dare to Drive: A Saudi Woman’s Awakening, a memoir of her journey.
Aisha Al Mansoori
Aisha Al Mansoori is the UAE’s first female to pilot an A380 plane – that’s the largest passenger jet in the world! After falling in love with aviation at the 2007 Al Ain Air show she joined Etihad the following year as a cadet, now years later there are few places she has yet to fly. This Barbie would have ambition and drive aplenty!
Photos: Supplied and Instagram @in_the_barbie_world, @hudabeauty, @mscaitlinmoran, @ les_glorieuses
