Women’s employment—Barbie style

In last summer’s hit movie, Barbie, we saw the Barbies in all kinds of different occupations. Let’s take a look at the employment of women in some of these jobs.

In the legal realm, we saw both Judge Barbie and Lawyer Barbie. In 2023, women accounted for 374,000 lawyers and 34,000 judges, magistrates, and other judicial workers (all numbers are for full-time workers).

In the athletic realm, the movie showed Volleyball Barbie, Olympic Skater Barbie, and Soccer Player Barbie among others. There were 5,000 women professional athletes in 2023 and an additional 29,000 women were coaches and scouts.

Getting the facts right is tough business and Journalist Barbie doesn’t get fazed by “no comment.” Women journalists accounted for 21,000 employees. In related fields, women accounted for 44,000 writers and authors, 46,000 editors, and 29,000 technical writers.

In the movie, Physicist Barbie won a Nobel Prize for her contributions to the physics field. In 2023, there were 5,000 women astronomers and physicists, which is a small piece of the 753,000 women in life, physical, and social science occupations.

In Barbieland, it’s the Barbies (not the Kens) that oversee all the construction and renovation efforts. In 2023, there were 240,000 women working in construction and extraction occupations.

Just like in the movie, you’ll see women in nearly every occupation. Come check out the data we have on women in the labor force.