Down East 2013 ©
The co-star of Thelma and Louise, Geena Davis, spoke to the 2009 Bates College graduating class and urged equality for women in media, politics and business. Davis founded the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in the Media. Citing a recent study of G-rated movies and television shows, Davis explained three men are shown on screen for every woman. “When we looked at occupations, for 37 percent of the girls, it was royalty. Which is a job that's a little hard to come by,” Davis wrote in her remarks submitted to Bates. Davis urged the graduates to consider the importance of equality in all levels of society. Her argument ended with the United States Congress, where women account for 16 percent of all representatives. “We're right behind Andorra,” she said of Congressional leadership. “Clearly, left to itself this pace of change is abysmal, and in so many areas of our society, change must be firmly and continuously pushed in order to be effective.”