Ruth Marianna Moskowicz (AKA Mosco) Handler

Born: 1916

Died: 2002

Country of Birth: USA

Nationality: USA

Ethnicity: White

UCLA; University of Denver 1935-36;

""When I conceived Barbie, I believed it was important to a little girl’s self-esteem to play with a doll that [had] breasts. Now I find it even more important to return that self-esteem to women who have lost theirs.” (Wikipedia); “I really think that the squeamishness of those designers—every last one of them male—stemmed mostly from the fact that the doll would have breasts. Even Elliot, who has an uncanny knack for correctly predicting what others will buy, feared that no mother would buy her daughter a doll with a chest,” (people.com); “Barbie has always represented that a woman has choices. Even in her early years, Barbie did not have to settle for only being Ken’s girlfriend or an inveterate shopper. She had the clothes, for example, to launch a career as a nurse, a stewardess, a nightclub singer. I believe the choices Barbie represents helped the doll catch on initially, not just with daughters—who would one day make up the first major wave of women in management and professionals—but also with mothers.” (thoughtco.com); “Every little girl needed a doll through which to project herself into her dream of her future,” she later recalled in an interview with The New York Times. “If she was going to do role playing of what she would be like when she was 16 or 17, it was a little stupid to play with a doll that had a flat chest. So I gave it beautiful breasts.” (allthatsinteresting.com); “My whole philosophy of Barbie was that through the doll, the little girl could be anything she wanted to be,” she wrote in her 1994 memoir Dream Doll. “Barbie always represented the fact that a woman has choices.” (vulture.com); “One of my strengths is that I do have the courage of my convictions and the guts to take a position, stand up for it, push for it, and make it happen,” Handler wrote in her autobiography. “I can be very persuasive in getting others to see the light.” (antiquetrader.com); “I loved my children, but I wasn’t suited to taking care of a home,” Handler once said. (kveller.com); "It's important to embrace failure as part of the journey. Failure is a learning experience and a stepping stone towards success." (bookey.com); "

— Ruth Marianna Moskowicz (AKA Mosco) Handler

Field of Study: Businesswoman; Inventor

Institution/Corporation: Mattel; Nearly Me/Kimberley-Clark

Degrees & Memberships: Member: Los Angeles Music Center (founding member, 1965); Association of the University of Southern California;

Awards: 1968 Woman of the Year in Business, LA Times; 1989 Toy Industry Hall of Fame; Volunteer Achievement Award, American cancer Society; Woman of Distinction, United Jewish Appeal; 1998 National Toy Hall of Fame; 1961 Outstanding Businesswoman National Association of Accountants; 1963 Couple of the Year (with husband Elliot), City Hope; 1971 Outstanding Woman, Ladies Home Journal; 1972 Advertising Woman of the Year, Western States Advertising Agencies Association; 1972 Brotherhood Award, Southern California Region of the National Conference of Christians & Jews; 2000 National Inventors Hall of Fame; 1997 Global Business Hall of Fame;

Achievements: 1959 invented the Barbie doll modeled after the Bild Lilli doll she saw in Germany; 1945 co-founded Mattel with her husband Elliot & business partner Harold "Matt" Matson; after her mastectomy formed Ruthton Corp., which manufactured a more realistic version of a woman's breast called Nearly Me, aiming to boost women's confidence regardless of their health;1975 received a patent for Nearly Me, a prosthesis made of material close in weight and density to that of natural breasts; created Ruth Handler Foundation which supports various programs and initiatives focused on education and entrepreneurship; her autobiography is titled “Dream Doll: The Ruth Handler Story” ; had a hand in developing the Chatty Cathy doll made by Mattel in the 1960s; 1976 she founded the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF);