In 2004, Geena Davis was sitting on the couch with her two-year-old daughter, watching a children’s program together. Scene after scene, Geena froze.
She noticed that something important was missing. Where were the girls?
The show was meant for young children, but almost all the speaking characters were male. That night, Geena started to notice this pattern in movies, cartoons, and TV series everywhere.
Stories for children were mostly told from a male perspective. She couldn’t stop noticing it.
Geena Davis was no ordinary observer. An Oscar winner and star of iconic films like Thelma & Louise and A League of Their Own, she knew firsthand how easily women could be sidelined—even in the spotlight.
Yet Geena chose not to make her stand in front of the cameras.
Instead, she did something even more powerful: she started a research institute.
This led to the creation of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, the first group in the world to scientifically study how women and girls are shown in children’s media.
With help from the University of Southern California, her team reviewed thousands of films, episodes, and scripts.
The results were clear.
For every female character who spoke, there were three male characters.
In group scenes, only 17% of the characters were female.
Even worse, these numbers had not changed since 1946.
But Geena didn’t respond with anger in the movie industry. She brought facts and evidence. She talked to producers, writers, and executives. She didn’t blame anyone. She offered solutions.
“Here’s what we found. Here’s what can be improved. Here’s how simple it can be to change.”Her message sparked a movement:t: “If you can see it, you can become it.”
The studios began to listen.
Disney adopted the Institute’s software to analyze scripts.
Producers began adding female characters to group scenes. Screenwriters changed male characters’ names to female ones and discovered that the stories worked better.
Then, in 2019, something remarkable happened. For the first time ever, family films featured an equal number of male and female leads. In just over a decade, the number of female protagonists soared from 24% to 48%.%.
The woman who had noticed what was missing had managed to put it back in its place.
Geena Davis proved that you can change an entire industry, not by making more noise, but by sharing clear facts that everyone must notice.
And sometimes, the question that starts a revolution doesn’t arise in a boardroom.
It starts in a living room, where a little girl is watching TV.
And wondering: “Why aren’t there little girls like me here?”
By replacing accusations with evidence and anger with solutions, Geena Davis proved that clear information is the most effective tool for changing minds and transforming an entire industry.
Geena Davis turned potential critics into partners, showing that we achieve the most progress when we work together toward a better future.
When we ensure that everyone is represented in our stories, we give every child permission to dream and the confidence to believe that they belong in any role they choose to pursue.
>We Are Human Angels<
Authors
Awakening the Human Spirit
We are the authors of ‘We Are Human Angels,’ the book that has spread a new vision of the human experience and has been spontaneously translated into 14 languages by readers.
We hope our writing sparks something in you!
