March 6 (UPI) -- Olympic snowboarder Chloe Kim and conservationist Bindi Irwin are among a group of women to be immortalized by Mattel in its latest line of Barbies, the company announced Tuesday.
Mattel revealed 14 modern-day women and three historical figures it is recognizing ahead of International Women's Day on Thursday.
"As a brand that inspires the limitless potential in girls, Barbie will be honoring its largest line up of role models timed to International Women's Day because we know that you can't be what you can't see," said Lisa McKnight, senior vice president and general manager, Barbie. "Girls have always been able to play out different roles and careers with Barbie and we are thrilled to shine a light on real life role models to remind them that they can be anything."
Among the 17 women honored are:
-- Patty Jenkins, who broke the record for highest-grossing live-action film directed by a woman for Wonder Woman
-- Kim, who became the youngest woman to win Olympic gold in snowboarding last month
-- Irwin, Australian TV personality who took up her father Steve Irwin's cause of animal conservation after his death
-- Nicola Adams, British two-time gold medal-winning boxer
-- Çağla Kubat, a Turkish wind surfer who started a wind surfing school for young people
-- Hélène Darroze, a French chef who has two Michelin stars
-- Hui Ruoqi, captain of the Chinese volleyball team who won gold in the 2016 Olympic Games
-- Lorena Ochoa, Mexican professional golfer
-- Martyna Wojciechowska, Polish journalist, author, director and TV personality who also conquered the Seven Summits
-- Sara Gama, captain of the Italian soccer team
-- Xiaotong Guan, Chinese actress and philanthropist
-- Yuan Tan, Chinese prima ballerina at the San Francisco Ballet
-- Vicky Martin Berrocal, Spanish fashion designer and entrepreneur
-- Frida Kahlo, Mexican surrealist artist
-- Amelia Earhart, American aviation pioneer
-- and Katherine Johnson, mathematics pioneer who worked for NASA and subject of the film Hidden Figures.
Kim, recently back in the United States after her Olympic debut in South Korea, posted about the honor of being a so-called "Barbie Shero" on Twitter.
"Ahh! Im so happy to be honored as a @Barbie Shero alongside these incredible women! #InternationalWomensDay #Barbie," she wrote.
Jenkins said she was honored and offered her congratulations to the other women whose images were used for the dolls.
"Can't express how totally mind blowing and delightful it is to have your childhood favorite resemble you!! Thank you @Barbie, for this incredible honor, and for celebrating all kinds of women, everywhere. What a great way to inspire the girls of tomorrow!" she tweeted.
