Inspiring Women
The "Inspiring Women" dolls come with educational information about the contributions each woman made to society.
One is Amelia Earhart, the first female aviator to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. Frida Kahlo, the renowned Mexican artist and activist, will be another.
Barbie will also honor Katherine Johnson, a pioneer in mathematics who broke barriers of race and gender. One of the characters in the hit movie "Hidden Figures," Johnson was among a pool of women hired by NASA to work as human "computers" for the first US-manned flight into space.
Although the "Inspiring Women" series only has three dolls so far, it will grow with the release of new dolls, said Marissa Beck, spokeswoman for Mattel.
"The Inspiring Women Series pays tribute to incredible heroines of their time; courageous women who took risks, changed rules, and paved the way for generations of girls to dream bigger than ever before," Beck wrote in an email to CNN.
Sheroes
Barbie's "Shero" program began in 2015 to highlight real women who have broken boundaries in their field.
This week, Barbie released 14 new Shero dolls, including ones based on "Wonder Woman" director Patty Jenkins and US snowboarder Chloe Kim, who just won a gold medal at the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang. Other Shero dolls honor fashion designers, journalists, actresses and entrepreneurs.
These Sheroes include honorees from the United States, Australia, United Kingdom, Turkey, France, China, Germany, Mexico, Poland, Italy and Spain, Beck said.
The dolls will start to roll out to stores nationwide soon but are currently for pre-sale now on the Barbie website.