Q: How did the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media come into being?
A: That happened as a result of watching kids' entertainment with my then-2-year-old daughter; she's 8 now. I started to watch G-rated videos and TV shows and I was really stunned to see what I perceived to be a big gender disparity.
I was thinking, why on earth in the 21st century are we not showing kids sharing the sandbox equally?
When I mentioned it to people in the industry, the typical reaction was, "I don't think that's true; they've fixed that." I realized to have any impact, I would need data.
(We did) the largest research study ever done on G-rated films and kids' television programs. The results were what I had perceived: There were far more male characters than female; the male characters were doing all the interesting things and having the adventures. The female characters were stereotyped, often serving as eye candy.
Since then we've brought that research to the studios and networks that are creating this content. We work from the inside in a collegial way to encourage improvement.
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