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Geena Davis spoke at the Social Good Summit appearance, saying: "Boys do all the fun stuff, and girls are not there or hyper-sexualized."
Female characters have been underrepresented 3:1 in (child-oriented) G-rated content for decades, she said in speaking about research that her Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media has collected.
The actress expressed hope to move the needle "even a little bit" in the next five years though.
"I don't know if we could get to 2:1," she said when asked about her target for the next five years. "Maybe 2.5:1."
She said a study showed that only 7 percent of kids movies were gender-balanced.
Especially movies, particularly animated ones, can take a long time to make, so any progress will take a while to materialize there, she highlighted.
Her institute's See Jane program uses research and advocacy to work with content creators and encourage them to enable changes to the depiction.
Surprised?
Industry folks are often surprised or even shocked to hear some of the data her team has collected and are willing to re-balance projects, the actress said. Especially given her focus on kids media, "people seem to be very open to it," she said.
Asked by interviewer Soledad O'Brien of CNN if society needs to make more progress first, Davis said content is key, too, as young women feel they have fewer options the more TV they watch, according to research.
Importantly, the more women work behind the scenes of entertainment productions, the more females are featured on screen, Davis explained.
"So part of it is getting more behind the scenes," she said about her team's mission.
Davis' advice to consumers: discuss gender representation and use mitigating language when watching TV or films with your kids.
"With my daughter, I always say why do you think there was only one female character in that movie?" she explained.
What stereotypes about women have you picked up from film and TV? Which actresses have challenged these? Is it time for the film industry to rethink these roles?
Female characters have been underrepresented 3:1 in (child-oriented) G-rated content for decades, she said in speaking about research that her Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media has collected.
The actress expressed hope to move the needle "even a little bit" in the next five years though.
"I don't know if we could get to 2:1," she said when asked about her target for the next five years. "Maybe 2.5:1."
She said a study showed that only 7 percent of kids movies were gender-balanced.
Especially movies, particularly animated ones, can take a long time to make, so any progress will take a while to materialize there, she highlighted.
Her institute's See Jane program uses research and advocacy to work with content creators and encourage them to enable changes to the depiction.
Surprised?
Industry folks are often surprised or even shocked to hear some of the data her team has collected and are willing to re-balance projects, the actress said. Especially given her focus on kids media, "people seem to be very open to it," she said.
Asked by interviewer Soledad O'Brien of CNN if society needs to make more progress first, Davis said content is key, too, as young women feel they have fewer options the more TV they watch, according to research.
Importantly, the more women work behind the scenes of entertainment productions, the more females are featured on screen, Davis explained.
"So part of it is getting more behind the scenes," she said about her team's mission.
Davis' advice to consumers: discuss gender representation and use mitigating language when watching TV or films with your kids.
"With my daughter, I always say why do you think there was only one female character in that movie?" she explained.
What stereotypes about women have you picked up from film and TV? Which actresses have challenged these? Is it time for the film industry to rethink these roles?
