There have been great advances to women’s rights in our history. Going back to 1970, we can see exactly what gender roles and rights women had in that time period through Marge Piercy’s poem “Barbie Doll”. The atmosphere and attitude towards women and women rights sets the tone for Piercy’s poem. Along with Piercy’s writing style and past poems, we can understand her point of view on women’s rights during the time that this poem was published. Through historical references and understanding the time period in which this poem was written, the poem and the sources on Marge Piercy and the second wave of feminism support one another and help enhance the meaning and the power of this combination of literature.

Understanding Marge Piercy’s point of view and looking into her life we can understand the poem better. After reading some literature on Marge Piercy, I can now understand her mind set when she was writing this poem and her perspective on women’s rights at the time. Marge Piercy “has [had] sustained involvement with feminism” during her life. Piercy has been involved in advancing women’s rights in the past and feels strongly about creating change. Her past writing pieces “generally address larger social concerns through sharply observed characters and brisk plot lines”. Barbie Doll is no different from this description of a “brisk plot line”. Piercy is also known to “[write] from a feminist position”. While reading the poem, I noticed the pressure on this girl and lack of support for her and her struggle. Reading this poem, it is clear that the writer is frustrated with the gender roles for women in our society in 1970. Knowing that Piercy is known to write in a sharp way, her poem follows the pattern and the common way she writes her pieces. This poem reflects her sharp writing in addressing a social concern. The way that Piercy wrote this poem without directly mentioning women’s rights or gender roles shows her great writing ability for addressing something so serious and important but also being so creative in her way of describing women’s rights. Piercy’s way of writing this poem is very powerful and creative. By writing about an innocent girl and her daily struggles as a girl but also stealthily discussing the very serious and relevant for the time matter of women’s rights is very intriguing to the reader. Not only does Piercy’s background add to the meaning of this poem, the historical changes and advances during this time create a deeper meaning for this poem.

With historical information, reading this poem makes Piercy’s feelings towards the atmosphere around women’s rights and gender roles more understandable. This poem was written during a time period for feminism called “the second wave of feminism”. This second wave consists of changes that were taking place and movements of women wanting to make a difference. The importance of women’s rights in this poem is translated by the powerful image of a young girl growing up with the gender roles she must face. The second wave was inspired by Betty Friedman’s “The Feminine Mystique” which touched on topics from the growing rate of unhappy women, to society’s expectations of women during the 1960’s. Many women during this time that were energized by Freidman’s book and joined with “government leaders and union representatives who had been lobbying the federal government for equal pay and for protection against employment discrimination” (Burkett). Women during the second wave of feminism were fighting for “enforcement of laws banning employment discrimination; maternity leave rights; child-care centers that could enable mothers to work; equal and unsegregated education; and equal job-training opportunities for poor women” (Burkett). Women needed a lot of support to make a difference and slowly gained more backing. This poem reflects the need for support and the hope for people to understand the serious gender roles that women faced. This poem could be propaganda for supporting women’s rights and desiring a change. An innocent girl being imprisoned by the gender roles that exist should spark a desire for change from anyone. Instead of women becoming more empowered and viewed as equal, their “commitment is the fulfillment of their own femininity” (Fava). This commitment to fulfill femininity is reflected in Piercy’s poem with the presentation of makeup at such a young age. Women during this time were frustrated because “domestic aspects of femininity” were valued above all (Fava). While the girl in the poem may be smart, she was put down because she was not pretty enough and did not have the right body shape; she did not live up to the domestic aspects of femininity. Piercy’s poem reflects these things that women were fighting for during the time this poem was published. Without directly discussing these topics, Piercy highlights the serious problems that needed to be addressed at the time. 

Not only does the women’s rights movement have a big part of this poem, gender roles that controlled women and their role in society is voiced in this poem. In this poem, Piercy describes the daily struggles and hardships of being a girl. She highlights the pressures on young girls to be society’s vision of perfect. Piercy describes the first stages of the extreme gender roles that exist by being presented with “miniature GE stoves and irons”. Even as this girl is growing up, she is being shown what she will be expected to be doing as she grows up. She will have to be cooking and cleaning for her husband at the house. The young girl is also presented with “lipsticks the color of cherry candy” (Piercy). Makeup is being presented and expected of her to wear even when she is a very young girl. Even though she has makeup to wear, she is still not good enough. He body is not up to the expectations of perfection to other people as one of her classmates points out that she has a “great big nose and fat legs” (Piercy). Although she is “healthy and tested intelligent”, she is still not perfect because her body is not up to the standards of society (Piercy). Although this girl may have good qualities all “everyone saw [was] a fat nose and thick legs” as she grew up and became more and more self-conscious (Piercy). At the end of the poem, we learn that even when she has died, she is seen the same way. She was “displayed on satin/ with the undertaker’s cosmetics painted on” (Piercy). The girl has died only to become exactly what she was expected to be. She turned into a Barbie doll who could be played with made into the perfect picture of what society wanted. Although this poem was written in 1960, the pressures of society still exist today. This poem tells a story of a girl trying to deal with the pressures and live her life. Through all the references Piercy makes, she is discussing the gender roles that exist even at the young age of this girl. 

The title of this poem plays a big role in understanding the references and the comparison between a Barbie doll and the pressures of society on women. A Barbie is seen as this figure of perfection. Just the opposite, the girl in the poem is constantly being brought down as she is compared to this perfection that society expects. The powerful comparison between a Barbie doll and a young girl exposes the sad truth that it starts at a young age that girls are pressured to be a certain way and are compared to unrealistic perfection. The end of this poem is set at the girl’s funeral where she is described as being “in the casket displayed on satin” just like a doll. The poem describes the girl’s first toy as dolls. Being exposed to this perfection at a young age breeds children to have unrealistic expectations of themselves, and creates criticism by their peers for having flaws. Looking up to their favorite toy, a Barbie doll, as being flawless and so unrealistic does not help with understanding imperfection is okay. This unrealistic expectation also extends the gender roles that exist and keeps them from dissipating. Women are expected to be Barbie’s, doing what they are told and dealing with the restrictions that they were born with as being a woman. Women during the second wave of feminism were doing what they could do to get rid of this Barbie doll expectation. 

Not only does Marge Piercy want to bring up the subject of women’s rights during the second wave of feminism, she uses the idea of gender roles and the intensity of those roles for young girls to highlight the importance of this serious subject. “Barbie Doll” shines light on the reality of gender roles and how severe they can be. This reality of a Barbie making this false reality adds the relevance of this problem in today’s society. Barbie’s still exist and they still have this perfect essence. Although women’s rights have come a long way from 1970, gender roles still exist in the world. Women sometimes are still expected to be the perfect Barbie Doll.  
