Activism Geena Davis

the handprints of geena davis in front of great movie ride @ walt disney world s disney s hollywood studios theme park.

davis supporter of women s sports foundation , advocate title ix, act of congress focusing on equality in sports opportunities, expanded prohibit gender discrimination in united states educational institutions.

in 2004, while watching children s television programs , videos daughter, davis noticed imbalance in ratio of male female characters. davis went on sponsor largest research project ever undertaken on gender in children s entertainment (resulting in 4 discrete studies, including 1 on children s television) @ annenberg school communication @ university of southern california.

the study, directed dr. stacy smith, showed there 3 males every 1 female character in 400 g, pg, pg-13, , r-rated movies undergraduate team of annenberg students analyzed.

geena davis speaking @ bates college on may 31, 2009.

in 2005, davis teamed non-profit group, dads , daughters, launch venture dedicated balancing number of male , female characters in children s television , movie programming.

davis launched geena davis institute on gender in media in 2007. institute s first focus on-the-ground program works collaboratively entertainment industry dramatically increase presence of female characters in media aimed @ children , reduce stereotyping of females male-dominated industry. work in field received honorary doctor of fine arts degree bates college in may 2009.

in 2011, davis became 1 of handful of celebrities attached usaid , ad council s fwd campaign, awareness initiative tied year s east africa drought. joined uma thurman, chanel iman , josh hartnett in television , internet ads forward facts crisis.

in 2015, davis launched annual film festival held in bentonville, arkansas, highlight diversity in film, accepting films prominently feature minorities , women in cast , crew. bentonville film festival took place may 5–9, 2015, , began accepting submissions on january 15.