For a significant portion of Gen-Z and Millennials that grew up in the past few decades, our childhood was inundated with dolls, games and activities that were largely gender-normative. This was an era where the barbie doll became the icon of femininity amongst young girls. While girls were dutifully assigned their respective barbie dolls, young boys were given masculine superhero figurines. These unknowingly became symbols of our aspirations.
We all remember spending days grooming and playing with our barbie dolls that often represented a defined beauty standard and ultimately a benchmark for how we perceived ourselves as women; purely through the lens of beauty and vanity.
The implications of this conditioning early on in life ultimately sets the stage for the kind of expectations and perceptions we had of gender roles, and responsibilities and in taking ownership and agency of our strength and power. In attempting to reinterpret these narratives that we feed to our children, a former Indian journalist, Smriti Lamech is creating traditional rag dolls with a feministic twist.
Lamech’s team of local women artisans produce handcrafted rag dolls that inspire and empower. Following the powerful stories of feminist icons in Indian and world history, these dolls are a refreshing new twist to how we imbibe ideals of empowerment and motivation onto the children of the future. The dolls have also become collectables for adults. These handmade figures have been recreated to represent icons such as Frida Kahlo, Phoolan Devi, Savitribai Phule, Kalpana Chawla, and more.
To place an order or browse Smriti’s collection, click here.
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