The fictitious worlds created for kids are nearly bereft of female presence. It's sending a very clear message from the beginning that women and girls do not have half of the adventures, that they're not as important. We're teaching kids that girls and women don't take up half the space in the world.
Geena DavisI had this aunt who had a career and traveled. She'd say things like, "When you go to college, I think we should go scuba diving in the summer. The scuba diving in Portugal is fabulous." And I'd be like, "Portugal! Holy cats!".
Geena DavisFor a long time, way back in the โ30s and โ40s, there were fabulous female roles. Bette Davis and all those people had incredible, great roles. After World War II, something happened where it was not only "get out of the factories," but "get out of the movies." That's when women's roles started to really [change].
Geena DavisI don't really bust anybody publicly. It's much more efficient if I can impact the creators. So that's what we do. It's had a great impact.
Geena DavisWhat are we doing that for in the 21st century? Why on earth would we teach kids that girls are less important than boys? It just made no sense to me.
Geena DavisI met the former president of Iceland [Jรณhanna Sigurรฐardรณttir] once. I think she was president for, like, 16 years or something. She said she used to get letters from little boys saying, "Madam President, do you think it will ever be possible for a boy to be president?" Just like we assume that girls can't be politicians, they were assuming boys can't. That's what they thought. It's so crazy.
Geena Davis