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Oscar-Winning Actress Takes Job With U.N.

Jul 2, 2013  •  Post A Comment

An actress who has chalked up a string of awards including an Oscar and a Golden Globe has a new gig: working with the United Nations. The Associated Press reports that Geena Davis is working with the U.N.’s women’s agency to create the first global study on how girls and women are depicted in family films.

"We cannot let the negative depiction of women and girls erode the hard gains that have been made on gender equality and women’s empowerment," said Lakshmi Puri, acting head of UN Women. "We hope that the study will address factors that positively impact the perception of women in society."

The study will look at top-grossing international movies in countries including Australia, China, Russia and the U.K.

Davis, whose Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media commissioned the study with support from UN Women and the Rockefeller Foundation, said the lack of female characters in media is teaching that women "don’t take up half the space in the world."

Results will be released in late 2014.

Davis played the first female president in the TV series "Commander in Chief," winning a Golden Globe for the role in 2006. She is known for the female-oriented buddy movie "Thelma & Louise," which earned her an Oscar nomination in 1992, and won an Oscar for best supporting actress in 1989 for "The Accidental Tourist."

Other memorable film roles for Davis include "Beetlejuice," "The Fly," Earth Girls Are Easy" and "A League of Their Own."

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Geena Davis

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