 I'm here at the WISIS 2012 forum with someone who should need no introduction. It's Gina Davis, Academy Award-winning actor, star of films such as Selma and Louise, The Long Kiss Good Night, A League of Their Own and Accidental Tourist, and recently founder of the Gina Davis Institute on Gender in Media. Gina, thank you very much for being with us. Gina, you're very proactive in campaigning for different stereotypes for girls and women in media. How would you characterize the situation today? And what would you like to see change in an ideal world? Well, I've made quite a study of gender depictions in media. My institute has actually done the largest amount of research ever sponsored in this area, covering a 20-year span. So the ratio of male to female characters has been the same since 1946. So we're not gradually getting to equity. There are far fewer female characters than male characters. And the female characters that are depicted are very, very narrowly stereotyped and very often hypersexualized, even in movies and shows that are made for very little kids. So my theory is that we're training generation after generation to see women as not taking up half the space in the world and not being as important as men and boys because they're not seeing them actively involved in life and taking the space that's rightfully theirs. So now that we have this data, it's a very valuable tool because we're able to go directly to the creators of kids' media, you know, because I'm in the industry, whatever, and work as colleagues to encourage them to add more female characters and stretch the ideas of what they can be. And they've been very responsive, I have to say. I think we really are going to see a change within the next several years. How do you think we develop authentic and compelling role models that inspire girls? And isn't there a risk that characters developed deliberately to offer a better gender image where it would be popular because they're perceived as artificial? Well, that's a very good question because I don't ever use the word role models when I'm talking about characters. I've played characters myself that women have found compelling but who are not role models necessarily. I think the thing to do is create genuine characters who are different and unique and have flaws and, you know, like male characters are, you know. And I think, partly because most writers are male and most directors and most producers, there's a fear of creating female characters. That's a little bit what you're talking about. Well, we have to be careful. We can't make her to this or to that. And I would like them to just throw away that idea. Let's say write the characters all as male and they just change the names because there's no special gimmick to creating female characters. If there's characters who are doing active things and are in charge of their own fate, that's a role model. And why do you think there's such resistance to strong roles of women in Hollywood? I think it all stems from this belief in Hollywood that's seen as gospel, that women will watch men but men won't watch women. And everything in Hollywood is run based on this, including children. Girls will watch boys but boys won't watch girls. This theory is not in any way been proven. But still it very much impacts all the decisions that are made. So every time there's a movie starring women that's a big success, Stirling Louise was one. The media all says, oh, now everything's changed. Now we're going to see so many movies starring women and nothing changes. And it happens year after year. There'll be one maybe every year or every two years. That's a huge success and it's starring women and about women. But the decision makers in Hollywood still say, yeah, but I don't trust it. I think it's maybe just a one off. So we never get any momentum going, which is why we're sort of stuck in the same pattern. You've recently accepted to become ITU's special envoy on women and girls in ICT. How do you feel about that? And what do you think it'll involve? I'm thrilled with this new position and I'm so appreciative of this opportunity. And I'm such a fan of ITU and what they do. I mean, it's an incredible organization that wields a lot of clout globally. So it's very significant to me to be able to take some of the work I do in a much bigger scale globally. I think it's incredibly important to get more women and girls into IT. And a big factor in helping this happen is going to be ITU's work. Gina Davis, thank you very much indeed. Thank you.