BY: Zoe Melnyk

The Barbie doll was created almost 60 years ago, back in 1959, and not much about it has changed since.

Sure, the occupation of Barbie has expanded; she can be a nurse, a teacher, a flight attendant or really whatever your heart desires. And yes, Barbie dolls can now be purchased in different skin tones to represent different ethnicities. However, when we examine Barbie’s look, really, it’s all the same. Barbie has always had long hair, a slim face, and a long and fit torso, with an hourglass figure.

It’s not just unrealistic. A life size scale of what Barbie would look like as a person shows it’s impossible.

So finally, after decades of impractical expectations, Sonia Singh, a mother from Australia, decided to take matters into her own hands by rehabilitating Bratz dolls into a more natural looking, grounded role model for young kids.

Singh’s special line of dolls is called Tree Change Dolls® and is made by using the raw materials from Bratz dolls that Singh “rescues and rehabilitates,” eventually hand-painting them to create a more natural looking face, with clothes hand-stitched by her mother.

Her work is not meant to discourage make-up or shame anyone for the clothes they choose to wear. It’s simply a different look for kids to accept.

Photos: Tree Change Dolls / Facebook

After discovering the natural-looking dolls in Australia, Wendy Tsao, founder of Childs Own, decided to take the concept one step further.

Instead of simply removing the make-up and putting dolls in more sensible clothing, Tsao created a line that models dolls after real life women who have made extraordinary accomplishments.

Kids can play with a Malala Yousafzai doll, modeled after the young Pakistani woman who fought for the right to educate women and is the youngest-ever Nobel Prize laureate.

Kids can also play with a model of the world-renowned author J.K. Rowling, or Somali social activist Waris Dirie, or the first Canadian woman to go into space, Roberta Bondar.

The list goes on, and it is not simply a matter of giving children a role model that looks like an actual person. It’s an educational opportunity to teach children about the amazing accomplishments women have made.

It’s a chance to show young women, and men, women’s capabilities are countless and that looks should never trump character.