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STORY: NEW YORK / GEENA DAVIS
TRT: 3.05
SOURCE: UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 29 JUNE 2010, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
29 JUNE 2010, NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior One UN Plaza DC1 Building
2. Various shots, Geena Davis enters conference room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Geena Davis, Founder of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media:
“I think there’s two roles improving the media images of woman can play; one is that we really learn our value in society by seeing ourselves reflected in the culture and kids more so than anyone, I mean, as they’re learning what their role in society is and what’s their place and value, they’re exposed to massive amounts of media and the message that boys and girls are getting currently is that girls are not as valuable as boys., and women are not as important as men, and by changing this message into one of more empowerative of boy and girls sharing the same box equally we in effect be affecting the culture that boys would see girls as more important and girls would feel more important, as opposed to the disempowering message that’s there now. The other aspect of it s that while so many people are working so hard on these millennium development goals and the progress we make in economic development, and violence against women and all those areas, we don’t want to see it undermined by a culture of hyper-sexualisation or stereotyping women in the media because it will hamper the progress or certainly taker away the progress.”
4. Close up, Geena Davis’s hands
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Geena Davis, Founder of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media:
“I was really shocked to see that there seemed to be a very significant gender disparity in what we are showing the littlest kids and I found that and find that to be disturbing because it means that we are raining generation after generation of boys and girls to become used to the idea that girls hold a lesser position.”
6. Cutaway, Geena Davis interviewed by UN radio
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Geena Davis, Founder of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media:
“We studied the top grossing movies for a fifteen year period, from 1990 to 2005, and what we found is that there was no improvement in the ratio of female to male characters during that time; so it’s not something that is slowly getting better.”
FILE - 28 JUNE 2010, NEW YORK CITY
8. Various shots, Geena Davis approaching microphone at the meeting of the annual high-level segment of the United Nations (UN) Economic and Social Council
9. Wide shot, Geena Davis at a UN press conference regarding the annual high-level segment of the United Nations (UN) Economic and Social Council
Academy award winning actor and activist Geena Davis, who has been working on changing the ways the media portrays women through her institute, told UNifeed that the message that boys and girls were getting today through their exposure to media is that “girls are not as valuable as boys, and women are not as important as men.”
Davis said changing that message into one that is more empowering would mean that “boys would see girls as more important and girls would feel more important, as opposed to the disempowering message that’s there now.”
The United Nations (UN) is increasingly prioritizing the importance of women in society as well as fighting against gender inequalities as a tool for reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Davis said that society doesn’t want to see the MDG progress achieved until now hampered by “the culture of hypersexualisation or stereotyping of women in the media."
On gender inequalities, she expressed her shock at the “very significant gender disparity” shown to young children on the media. “I find that to be disturbing because it means that we are training generation after generation of boys and girls to become used to the idea that girls hold a lesser position,” she added.
In 2004, Davis’ institute on Gender in Media launched a content analysis on G-rated movies and children's television. Davis said that they studied the “top grossing” movies from 1990 to 2005 to find that there was no improvement in the ratio of female to male characters during that time. She added that “it’s not something that is slowly getting better.”
Yesterday Geena Davis also added her voice to the opening of the UN Economic and Social Council's annual meeting of nations and at a press conference on how poverty reduction could bring more equality among women and men.
