Actress Geena Davis says Americans have “a particular responsibility even beyond our borders” to think about how women and girls are portrayed in film and television. That's because most other nations import “the vast majority of their entertainment” from the United States, says Davis, who starred in “Thelma and Louise” and ABC's TV series “Commander in Chief” playing the first female US president. Davis spoke to reporters Monday as the UN Economic and Social Council opened a weeklong meeting of ministers and other high-level officials to promote anti-poverty and gender equality efforts. The founder of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media and its programming arm, See Jane, called on popular media's “content creators” to stop portraying women as less “significant” or “valuable” than men. Davis, who won a best supporting actress Oscar for “The Accidental Tourist” in 1989, says children in particular must be shown more realistic and healthy images of women and girls.
