(SOUNDBITE OF CHARLI XCX'S "SPEED DRIVE")
CHARLI XCX: (Singing) Uh-oh. She my best friend in the whole world.
AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
When Barbies could walk a decade after the dolls were first manufactured, it was a big deal.
(SOUNDBITE OF AD)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: Hey, you're making her walk.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: Meet new Walk Lively Barbie. She comes with her own walk and turn stand.
RASCOE: This was 1972, and since then, Barbie has just kept on walking.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHARLI XCX'S "SPEED DRIVE")
CHARLI XCX: (Singing) Ah-ah, Barbie, you're so fine, you're so fine, you blow my mind. Jump into the driver's seat and put it into speed drive. Hot. Ridin' through the streets...
RASCOE: She walked to the front of the class. She made her way to the Oval Office. She became an Olympic athlete.
CYLIE WILLIAMS: We were seeing the Barbie representation change from a Barbie that went to social events and went to the beach and went to parties and had fun hair, to Barbie representation of women in the workplace. And with that we then saw, oh, my goodness, Barbie actually has more flat feet than we've seen before.
RASCOE: That's Cylie Williams, a podiatrist and researcher at Monash University in Australia. She was interested in looking at the changing angle of Barbie's feet after seeing Margot Robbie go from teetering on her tiptoes to losing her arch in the 2023 movie.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "BARBIE")
MARGOT ROBBIE: (As Barbie) I don't even have context for this, but my feet, my heels, are on the ground. I'm no longer on tiptoes.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As character) That's OK. Let me see. (Yelling) Flat feet.
RASCOE: That movie scene got several researchers thinking. And last week, they published their findings in the scientific journal PLOS One. After measuring 2,750 plastic arches, the team found that as Barbie became more empowered, her foot posture flattened.
WILLIAMS: We were looking at equity and diversity. We were looking at Barbie's skin color and ethnicity. As a representation of who we are as the human race, we were looking at fashion and employment.
RASCOE: They determined that 40% of Barbies with jobs stand - well, they stand normally with a few surprises.
WILLIAMS: There was one Barbie in a wheelchair, and she wore killer heels. And I thought that was amazing to just see representation of choice and fashion, regardless of ability or physical ability. And that also mimics real life.
RASCOE: So what kind of shoe would podiatrist Barbie wear?
WILLIAMS: Oh, I've been waiting for this question, especially as yesterday, I wore three-inch heels all day.
RASCOE: Williams says she switches between high heels and flats, depending upon the occasion. She believes Barbie would, too.
WILLIAMS: I think podiatrist Barbie should come with the options of some sort of fantastic high heel and some sort of runner or sneaker or boot that enables her to run around and do what she needs to do.
RASCOE: Now, that's a modern Barbie. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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