Geena Davis On Her Gender Equality Efforts In Hollywood, Reflects On ‘A League Of Their Own’ 30th Anniversary

She is the leading lady behind some of the most memorable cinematic performances in recent history – but these days, Geena Davis is keeping much of her focus off-screen, ensuring that Hollywood better represents the real world in its storytelling today.

Since 2004, Davis, 66, has been the Founder and Chair of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, a non-profit organization that examines its own research of the intersectional on-screen representation of six identities: gender, race, LGBTQIA+, disability, age 50+, and body type. Over the past 18 years, Davis and her team have strived to champion people of all backgrounds in film and television by ending unconscious bias, fostering inclusion, and eliminating negative stereotypes in global media.

“We’re very excited to see the significant progress toward our goals,” Davis tells me during our Zoom conversation. “I started this because I wanted to change what kids see first because I noticed when my daughter was a toddler, that movies and video for very little kids, there seemed to be a lot of gender imbalance, where there were far male characters. I was like What are we doing in the 21st century showing kids an unequal world? I didn’t intend to make it my life’s mission (laughs).”

What began as simply careful observations from this mother of three has turned into a full-fledged mission for nearly two decades now, with findings from Davis and her team (all publicly accessible on her website) turning Hollywood on its head.

“Once I had the research and I started meeting with studios and presenting it, they were stunned,” continues Davis. “They were absolutely floored how many female characters they were leaving out. Now, female lead characters in both TV made-for-kids and movies made-for-kids have reached parity, which is very different from when we started out. That’s one of our goals. My other big goal is to make the world that the movie is told in reflect real-life – 50% female, 40% people of color, people with disabilities, LGBTQ – that’s my goal.”

Davis goes on to applaud fellow actresses like Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin for speaking up for more pay in their starring roles on Grace and Frankie, when they realized their show’s male supporting actors were being paid the same as them. Davis gives a large amount of credit to better treatment and better pay for actresses in Hollywood to one specific group that emerged in recent years.

“Ever since ‘Me Too’ in my industry, there has been a tremendous change in the vibe of Hollywood because it was always the case for me and my peers that you would never complain about salary. It would never even occur to you that you would expect the same salary as the male star. You couldn’t talk about if you were being treated unfairly and that kind of thing because they’re just going to get someone else. Females were expendable in my movies, but everything changed when ‘Me Too’ happened because then, not only was it okay to talk about sexual harassment and gender inequality issues, but it’s okay to talk about your salary and not be punished for it.”

Following Davis’s popular leading roles throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, she remembers noticing studio interest and her opportunities in Hollywood start to diminish once she turned 40.

Looking back on the rather abrupt change from being largely in-demand to barely working, Davis recalls, “It was tough. I mean, it is tough still. It’s not like you get more and more parts, the older you get. For me, I had played such incredible characters. I got like some of the best roles out there and then to have that fall off, I was like Wait a minute! What is going on?”

Despite setbacks in her professional career, Davis turned her frustrations into purpose with her ongoing efforts with her non-profit organization. When I mentioned to Davis the few popular series today with female leading characters over the age of 40 like And Just Like That, Hacks, and Grace and Frankie, she replies, “It’s fantastic! Mare of Easttown and all those stories are great. On streaming shows, there’s tremendous progress being made, I have to say. Especially for women, they do much better behind-the-scenes with women directors, producers, and writers. Everything is better on TV.”

In 2022, Davis definitely has a lot to celebrate, including the 30th Anniversary of her 1992 film A League of Their Own, the beloved fictionalized tale surrounding the very real group of hardworking female baseball players who stepped up to the plate and defied gender stereotypes during World War II.

Reflecting these three decades later on the timeless popularity of that film and her iconic role as Rockford Peaches catcher Dottie Hinson, Davis says, “I couldn’t believe that they were making that movie and that I got to play that role in it. It was incredible because there were so few movies where it’s about the women – it’s from the women’s perspective. I had just been in Thelma & Louise and that movie made me realize how few opportunities we give women to come out of a theater feeling empowered and inspired. That made me think that I wanted to try to be in movies that could potentially have that reaction, where women could come out of the movie feeling good about my character – and then to be able to play Dottie as my next role was incredible.”

The endless admiration for the types of empowering female-led stories that A League of Their Own brought to the screen continues on today with the new A League of Their Own television series premiering on Prime Video come August 12.

Being the fearless on-screen leader of the film version, I wondered if Davis has seen any photos or the trailer for the new series yet. She responds, “No I haven’t but I have known about it since they first thought of it. Producers called me to tell me that they were doing it and wanted to just sort of get my blessing or something. I was like Yeah! I can’t wait. I’m happy about it. I think it’s great. I’m so happy it’s not our characters, you know? That it’s a completely different story. I’m giving it my stamp of approval.”

Even with her many commitments to the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media today, Davis remains a dedicated working professional in Hollywood. She just finished filming a new project titled Fairyland and is working on financing Cowgirl’s Last Ride before production begins.

As fans of Davis continue to hold out for her to reprise some of her most iconic roles, Davis leaves herself open to continuing on as Barbara Maitland following the 1988 dark comedy sensation Beetlejuice. When speaking about the rumors of a sequel over these past three decades, Davis says, “They started talking about this very soon after that one came out and they’ve been talking about it all this time and I’ve always said Yeah, I’d be in it!”

Davis also has plans of releasing a new memoir in October titled Dying of Politeness, but tells me that the subheading for the book that will not be on the cover is My Journey to Badassery. “I was a badass in my roles before I was in real-life, so it’s kind of about how the parts I played have impacted my real-life in a tremendous way. Changed my life, changed my personality, changed everything.”

As I began to conclude my conversation with Davis, I left her with one final question: What message might you have for women and men of all walks of life that maybe have been ‘pigeon-holed’ in Hollywood and felt like they really didn’t get a fair shot with roles? Knowing that you’ve been in their shoes before, what would you like to say to these people?

“I would say that we can be optimistic about on-screen representation because there is tremendous interest from all the studios and networks to be more inclusive. Their departments have expanded. When we started out, all the studios had a director of diversity but they never thought about women. It was all about people of color and we got them all to add women to people who are under-represented, but I think we are making a lot of progress. I’m optimistic about more people being able to see themselves reflected on-screen.”