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Gender in Media News Releases

Geena Davis Unveils The Geena Davis Inclusion Quotient (GD-IQ), a Revolutionary Software Capable of Measuring Screen and Speaking Time Through the Use of Automation

Today, the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media at Mount Saint Mary’s University announced the debut of the Geena Davis Inclusion Quotient (GD-IQ). Funded by Google.org and incorporating Google’s machine learning technology and University of Southern California’s audio-visual processing technologies, the GD-IQ is the only tool in existence with the ability to measure screen and speaking time through the use of automation. It was co-developed by the Institute and led by Dr. Shrikanth (Shri) Narayanan and his team of researchers at the University of Southern California’s Signal Analysis and Interpretation Laboratory (SAIL), with additional analysis from Dr. Caroline Heldman. The revolutionary data tool took a devoted team of research engineers and social scientists two years to develop.

Posted on: September 14, 2016

New Study from Geena Davis Institute finds Archery Catches Fire Thanks to Inspiring Hollywood Images

Today, Geena Davis and her Institute on Gender in Media announced research findings from a new study, which surveyed members of USA Archery to examine the role entertainment media plays in archery, now the fastest growing sport in the United States. The study’s key finding is that fictional archers in films and television programs have inspired young people to take up archery, especially girls.

Posted on: August 04, 2016

Geena Davis Set to Executive Produce New Documentary Exploring Unconcious Gender Bias and Misrepresentation of Women in Hollywood

Academy Award®-winning actor and advocate Geena Davis and CreativeChaos vmg announced a partnership to produce a new untitled feature documentary on gender disparity in Hollywood.  Set to direct the film is Tom Donahue, director of the Emmy-nominated HBO feature documentary ‘Casting By,’ which followed the evolution of casting in the film and television industries and raised awareness for the contributions of the casting director.  

Posted on: June 08, 2016

Female characters in film and TV motivate women to be more ambitious, more successful, and have even given them the courage to break out of abusive relationships

As the Oscars and Hollywood continues to draw criticism for the lack of equal representation of gender and diversity, ground-breaking global research by the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media and J. Walter Thompson Company shows that female role models in film and TV are hugely influential in driving women to improve their lives. The research by the Institute and JWT finds that 90% of women globally feel that female role models in film or TV are important, 61% said female role models in film and TV have been influential in their lives and 58% said that women have been inspired to be more ambitious or assertive.

Posted on: March 15, 2016

Academy Award® Winning Actor Geena Davis and Arc Entertainment Launch Bentonville Film Festival with Founding Sponsor Walmart and Presenting Sponsor Coca-Cola

Academy Award® winning actor Geena Davis and ARC Entertainment today announced the launch of the Bentonville Film Festival (BFF), a one-of-a-kind inaugural event designed to champion women and diversity in film. The Festival, which will take place from May 5 – 9 in Bentonville, Arkansas, will be the first and only film competition in the world to offer guaranteed theatrical, television, digital and retail home entertainment distribution for its winners.

Posted on: January 06, 2015

Global film industry perpetuates discrimination against women

The first-ever global study on female characters in popular films, launched today, reveals deep-seated discrimination and pervasive stereotyping of women and girls by the international film industry. The study was commissioned by the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, with support from UN Women and The Rockefeller Foundation and conducted by Stacy L. Smith (PhD) and her research team at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California. The investigation analyses popular films across the most profitable countries and territories internationally.

Posted on: September 22, 2014

New Study: Changing the Status Quo

Entertainment Industry Unites with Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media to Improve Female Portrayals in Family Films. New Study Identifies Scope of Gender Inequity; Spotlights Barriers & Misconceptions; Unites An Industry. Get ready. Family films as we know them are about to change for the good. Entertainment media are a powerful cultural force, shaping public opinion and making a strong social impact. Yet, until now, no one has ever asked the male and female content creators to tell the cold, hard truth –– about why it is that women and girls are so grossly misrepresented in family films. Nor has anyone ever motivated and informed these influencers how to overcome barriers and misconceptions in order to find solutions; until now.

Posted on: April 21, 2011

New Study: Gender Disparity On Screen and Behind the Camera in Family Films

When Oscar-winning actor Geena Davis began watching children’s movies with her young daughter, she noticed it was nearly impossible to find a family film with more than one or two female characters, and without negative images and stereotypes of girls and women. Instead of sitting back, Davis formed the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media to study and quantify gender inequity in children’s entertainment and to use the data to affect change from within the industry. GDIGM’s latest study, “Gender Disparity On Screen and Behind the Camera in Family Films,” by Stacy L. Smith, PhD and Marc Choueiti, was conducted at USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism.

Posted on: October 05, 2010

USC Annenberg Study Shows Recent Top Films Lack Females on Screen and Behind Camera

A recent study of the 100 top-grossing films of 2007 by the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism found that females continue to be a large minority both on the screen and behind the camera. However, when women are decision-makers behind the scenes, the number of female characters in a film increases. The research, led by communication professor Stacy L. Smith and her team, showed that only 29.9 percent of the 4,379 speaking characters identified in the films were female, while 83 percent of all directors, writers and producers were male.

Posted on: February 23, 2010

The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media Releases New Findings: Males Outnumber Females Almost 3 to 1 in Films

Examining 15,000 individual speaking characters across G-, PG-, PG-13, and R-rated films, research by Dr. Stacy Smith of USC’s Annenberg School for Communication in association with the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media indicates that males outnumber females roughly 3 (2.71) to 1 on the silver screen. Dr. Smith and her team also examined 4000 female film characters and found that two types of females often frequent film: the traditional and the hypersexual.

Posted on: February 07, 2008
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