--- title: Barbie Pushes to Close 'Dream Gap' With New Judge Dolls description: After debuting a new line of gender-neutral dolls, Mattel has unveiled its latest Barbie Career of the Year doll: Judge Barbie. canonical: https://time.com/5694271/judge-barbie/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-10-07T16:38:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:46:03.341Z og:title: Barbie Makes Push for More Women in the Court With New Judge Dolls og:description: The famed toy company wants to close the "dream gap" og:url: https://time.com/5694271/judge-barbie/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1baa89c807e67a92/698a03e622fb85fa6de29f16/barbie-judge-doll.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2400 og:image:height: 1350 og:image:alt: Barbie Judge Doll og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Barbie Makes Push for More Women in the Court With New Judge Dolls twitter:description: The famed toy company wants to close the "dream gap" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1baa89c807e67a92/698a03e622fb85fa6de29f16/barbie-judge-doll.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Order in the Court! 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Oct 7, 2019 4:38 PM UTC  Mattel  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Oct 7, 2019 4:38 PM UTC Less than two weeks after debuting a new line of [gender-neutral dolls](https://time.com/5684822/mattel-gender-neutral-doll/), Mattel has unveiled its latest [Barbie Career of the Year doll](https://time.com/5321860/barbie-engineer/): Judge Barbie. Following in the footsteps of last year’s Robotics Engineer Barbie, Judge Barbie is available in a variety of different skin tones and hairstyles, and is intended to “inspire girls to explore judicial careers with the hopes that one day they will sit on the bench and make important decisions that can change the world for the better,” according to Barbie’s press release. In an effort to help close the “dream gap,” a cultural phenomenon that sees young girls begin to lose confidence in their own competence starting at age five, Barbie has partnered with [GoFundMe](https://www.gofundme.com/c/act/barbiedreamgapproject) to raise money for three nonprofits that support female empowerment: [She’s The First](https://shesthefirst.org/), [She Should Run](https://www.sheshouldrun.org/) and [Step Up](http://www.suwn.org/). The start of this new initiative coincides with the one-year anniversary of the launch of [Barbie’s Dream Gap Project](https://barbie.mattel.com/en-us/about/dream-gap.html) as well as [International Day of the Girl 2019](https://www.unicef.org/gender-equality/international-day-girl-2019) (Oct. 11).  Mattel Global head of Barbie Lisa McKnight told [USA TODAY](https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/parenting/2019/10/07/barbie-debuts-judge-dolls-partners-gofundme-close-dream-gap/3862758002/) that the company decided on judge as its 2019 Career of the Year after learning that only 33 percent of sitting U.S. state judges are female. “Barbie has had over 200 careers,” she said. “We like to say, ‘There isn’t a plastic ceiling that Barbie hasn’t broken.'” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5694271/judge-barbie/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5694271/judge-barbie/"},"headline":"Order in the Court! 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