Actress Geena Davis appears in Calgary
Posted Oct 15, 2013 2:06 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A Hollywood star appeared at a fundraiser for the Canadian Women’s Foundation Tuesday, making it a day audience members will likely never forget.
A record-setting $620-thousand dollars was raised to help the not-for-profit organization empower women, lifting them out of poverty and violence and helping them break down barriers.
Geena Davis, the keynote speaker for the event at the Hyatt Regency, spoke out about her experiences in Hollywood after being white-hatted by Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi.
She also had a warning for where the industry is heading.
Davis, known for lead rolls in ‘Thelma and Louise’ and ‘A League of Their Own’ says there are not enough strong, lead roles for women and girls.
She says she first noticed the issue when she starred in Thelma and Louise.
“To see how women reacted to that and felt inspired by the female characters made me realize we don’t get a lot of opportunities to feel like that coming out of a movie. So, from then on, I did make a very conscious choice about ‘is this part something that women are going to feel good about having watched?” says Davis.
Now, the founder of the Gina Davis Institute on Gender in Media hopes to correct that.
She plans to engage film and TV producers to increase the percentage of female characters in media, ages 11 and under, in hopes of turning the trend as soon as possible.
