Geena Davis Honored With New Governors Award At The 2022 Emmy’s
Geena Davis, the actress behind the beloved films Thelma & Louise, A League of Their Own, and Stuart Little, was honored at the Primetime Emmy Awards on September 12. Her organization, the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, was awarded the coveted Governors Award, “in recognition of their efforts to promote gender balance and foster inclusion throughout the entertainment industry.”
The Beetlejuice actress accepted the award from Sarah Paulson and Shonda Rhimes. Davis, in a striking yellow Rani Zakhem floor-length gown, took the stage to thank the Academy for this incredible honor. Her impassioned speech highlights the growing need for more gender equality, a mission both Davis and her organization share. She stated, “Tonight is about honoring the best of television, and as you know, as Lizzo knows, television can often directly impact how people see themselves and judge their value in the world. And in the time since I launched the institute, we’ve made a great deal of progress but still, there’s more work to do, of course.”
Sarah Paulson & Shonda Rhimes presenting the ‘Governors Award’ to Geena Davis #Emmys2022 pic.twitter.com/hYou7dESqH
— sarah’s pr too (@sarahpauIsbean) September 13, 2022
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— FOLLOW @YITTY (@lizzo) September 13, 2022
Davis founded the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media in 2004. The non-profit is the “only global research-based organization working collaboratively within the entertainment industry to create gender balance, foster inclusion, and reduce negative stereotyping in family entertainment media.” In addition, the organization focuses on six major identities: gender, race/ethnicity, LGBTQIA+, disability, age 50+, and body type in Advertising, Film, and Television.
The actress spearheaded the 2018 documentary film, This Changes Everything. The film reinforces the raging sexism, underrepresentation and misrepresentation of women in entertainment. This Changes Everything contains interviews with Davis, Meryl Streep, Natalie Portman, Taraji P. Henson, Reese Witherspoon, Cate Blanchett, Tiffany Haddish, Jill Soloway, Shonda Rhimes, Jessica Chastain, Yara Shahidi, Chloe Grace Moretz, Amandla Stenberg, Alan Alda, Sandra Oh, Anita Hill, Rashida Jones, Rose McGowan, Judd Apatow, Rosario Dawson, Maria Giese, and many other influential voices in the fight for gender equality.”
Here at Glitter, we want to congratulate Geena Davis on a well-deserved award. This Changes Everything is an insightful film that is available to stream on Netflix. Her interview discussing the Governors Award can be viewed below.
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