From Lifeguard Barbie to US Presidential Candidate Barbie (we’re not joking), the plastic-fantastic doll has seen her fair share of careers.

In real life however, new research from Aurora Sherman of Oregon State University and Eileen Zurbriggen of the University of California, Santa Cruz, has discovered that girls who played with Barbies (both a Doctor Barbie and a Fashion Barbie were used in the study) see fewer career options available to them compared with boys, whereas girls who played with a more neutral Mrs Potato Head figure reported they could hold almost as many of the careers that boys did.