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Boys Rule on the Big Screen

By Dina El Nabli

Nemo, Woody, Sully and Jimmy Neutron are big movie stars. But they share another significant trait: All four are male. Where are the females? That's the question posed in a recent study of popular kids' movies. The answer: For every female character, there are three male characters. Just 28% of the speaking characters in G-rated kids' movies are female.

The study was sponsored by See Jane, a program that pushes for balance between male and female roles in movies and television shows for kids. "The entertainment we're showing our kids from the very beginning is heavily skewed toward male characters," actress Geena Davis told TFK. "In general, shows and movies designed for young children are nowhere near reflecting the real world, where girls and women take up half of the space." Davis founded See Jane. She also plays the first woman U.S. President on the TV show Commander in Chief.

Researchers say that the same problem exists in movies and TV shows for adults. The study looked at 4,249 speaking characters in 101 popular G-rated movies released between 1990 and 2004. It found that even female characters with speaking parts are unlikely to be central characters.

Sharing Our Stories
See Jane is part of a group called Dads & Daughters. Joe Kelly, the co-founder of the group, worries that kids might simply get used to seeing fewer girls in movies. "Kids see [the imbalance] so much that it doesn't seem unusual any more," says Kelly. "What I'd like to see is for girls and boys to hear each other's stories."

Some of the movies studied featured strong women, including Anastasia and Mulan. Researchers say that those characters and others in recent movies don't make up for years of neglect. "Just because we can think of a few examples doesn't mean things are getting better," says head researcher Stacy Smith.

Moviemakers aren't shutting out female characters on purpose, Kelly says. Studios just haven't been keeping track. "We hope this information will help people pay attention," he says, "and figure out what do about it."

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