Dr. Meredith Conroy (she/her) is the Vice President of Research and Insights at the Geena Davis Institute. Dr. Conroy is an expert on how gender is communicated in media, and has written two books about gender, media and American politics (Masculinity, Media and the American Presidency, and Sex, Gender and the 2016 Election). Her most recent book, Who Runs? The Masculine Advantage in Candidate Emergence, analyzes masculinity and its relationship to political ambition in the US. She earned her PhD in Political Science from University of California, Santa Barbara.
At the Institute, Dr. Conroy leads a team of experts to design, carry out, and disseminate research that uncovers patterns in media representation, with a particular focus on how media unconsciously communicates biases about marginalized groups. Her work helps shape industry practices by providing data-driven insights that promote more inclusive and equitable storytelling across film, television, advertising, and digital platforms. The institute was recognized for this work in 2022, when it was honored with the Television Academy Governor’s Award.
In addition to her work at the Institute, Dr. Conroy is a political science professor at California State University, San Bernardino, and was a contributor at 538 with ABC News, the data-driven journalism site, from 2017 until 2025.
