Women of the 1950's

In the 1950's and 1960's, the majority of women stayed home. They cooked, cleaned, went out with friends, took care of kids, and looked good doing it. Barbie also represented gender roles of the time. People placed high value on family and relationships, which is why Ruth Handler created Barbie's boyfriend Ken in 1962.

http://dollobservers.com/profiles/blogs/its-official-barbie-and-ken
http://otal.umd.edu/~vg/mssp96/ms07/cult.htm