Barbie has always had a job (beginning as a teen model), never needed a man to get it, or be her boss. She never actually married Ken, at one point was dating others. At some point in her story line she was supposedly married to Ken, but it was dropped, if I'm remembering right, because she would only be a mother after that.
At any rate, Barbie's story and life has adapted to society, but the underlying theme was "like Barbie, you can do anything". It was a strong message for girls everywhere. they choose, they decide, they have no limits.
People get caught up in how the doll looks, but in the beginning the Mattel owners were looking for something they could sell (they already had other dolls, including Chatty Cathy in the works at the same time), that would appeal to girls looking at being grown up, not a child. The doll was modelled on the Bild newspaper mascot, Lili. You should look up those cartoons from the paper, if you think Barbie was sexualized.
Okay, brief history lesson/opinion piece over. 
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