Geena Davis Quotes

I appreciate the positivity of those 'year of the woman' articles - it's good to get that energy out there - but at the same time, in Hollywood it's not happening yet.

I think all women in Hollywood are known as sex symbols. That's what our purpose is in this business. You're merchandised, you're a product. You're sold and it's based on sex. But that's okay. I think women should be empowered by that, not degraded.

The term 'glass ceiling' was coined in 1984. More than 20 years later, the ceiling has barely cracked. There isn't a single country in the world that has as many female as male politicians. In business, the situation is even worse. Its highest echelon - the board - remains a chauvinist's dream.

I took my acting very seriously. I did over 40 films, and naturally, some of them were called B-movies because the woman was at the top of the billing. Women couldn't star in their own movies.

The women I play don't sit in the corner eating lettuce leaves and talking about what designer shoes they have.

We're not seeing enough women rising to the top.

I think being a woman in Hollywood is a big enough challenge. It really is. I don't want to be one of those people who complain. But the lack of roles out there - it's unbelievable.

I think it holds up pretty good because more and more women are coming to the forefront in all areas, and back then they said that nobody would care about women's friendship.

Every time a journalist will say: "Can women be funny? Can women be pilots? Can women be scientists?" It's less of a question and more of a statement after a while that makes you believe that maybe we can't. I think that's dangerous. I was really happy that I didn't have those barriers, but now I recognize the barriers of many other people.

Sexism is so five minutes ago. I think for the most part, people accept that women are as competent as men.

I do consider myself a feminist. I know the word has weird implications for people now, but I do think that its important to have women involved, whether its business or public service or...anything.

You know, I've always considered women to be people.

I think people resist feminism because they're scared. I think for women, they're scared of being picked on or of being called out.

I think Hillary Clinton has made great strides in doing so, even though there are people who want to bring us back to the '50s and still define a woman by her husband and her husband's legacy. But she has proven herself to be a force on her own and is an example to us of how women should and can be judged on their own merits.

I would say that the race of Hillary Clinton was very important to this country, because it showed that a woman could win the state, that a woman could raise money. I think that every woman is sitting a little taller, not only in our own country, but I think women around the world watch what's happening in the United States.

I think having women behind the cameras is exciting - whether it's as a director or a writer or a producer - because it does feel like we're in the middle of this awakening of realizing that it's important for women to have a voice.

People should realize women aren't just whores or virgins, I want to see women who are real human beings.

The reason I wrote Lean In is I think people weren't actually noticing that we had stopped making progress. I gave a TED talk and said: "It turns out men still run the world." And the audience gasped as if that was news.

This is a movement to say we're more than just our dresses. ... It's hard being a woman in Hollywood or any industry.

When people were very concerned about the violence against women, I encouraged people to stick with it because it was going somewhere and there was a reason why. It's all a commentary on gender roles and women and having to be the damsel or to stay on the ranch or to stay at home.

I realized that women are still not seen as equal to men. We had a big wave of feminism just before my generation was born. We're still sitting on this wave. There are very militant people and very aggressive women at the top of that wave but I think we have a new version of it now.

People will sometimes say, "Why don't you write more politics?" And I have to explain to them that writing the lives of women IS politics.

'Queen' is an interesting film, and I have always been motivated by roles that help alleviate women empowerment in some form.

I think if there's anything 2016 has taught me, it's that we have a real hard time with women in our society; we have a hard time with the feminine.

Some of my contemporaries don't want to talk about the female problem because they feel like whenever they get a teaching position or an award, we are just being pinpointed, fitting into the model.