She might be most remembered for her role as Thelma in Thelma & Louise, one of the most famous girl-power movies, but Geena Davis has now teamed up with the UN women's agency to asses how the female figure is portrayed in films and how it affects the self-esteem of women and girls.
“Media images have an enormous impact on children’s self-esteem and aspirations,” she said in a statement. “This is why we decided to launch a global gender in media study: If girls see it, they can be it.”
Citing that the dearth of female characters of substance in the media means children are being taught that girls and women “don’t take up half of the space in the world”, her eponymous organisation, The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media commissioned the study with support from the Rockefeller Foundation and UN Women. The results will be released in late 2014 and Lakshmi Puri, the acting head of UN Women said that she hopes “the study will address factors that positively impact the perception of women in society.”
- AP