BOISE — Hundreds packed Boise State University’s Jordan Ballroom on Thursday with one goal in mind: empowering women.
The Women and Leadership Conference focused on women in media, as well as advocating women and girls to reach their full potential.
“It's incredibly impactful when we leave girls out of what's going on, on screen,” Geena Davis, Academy Award-winning actor and founder of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, said.
Davis delivered the keynote address.
“Before I had the data, the creators of kids' entertainment had no idea that they were leaving out that many female characters,” Davis told KTVB. “They were still making 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.'"
One of the big takeaways from the conference was the way female characters are portrayed in kids' TV and films.
“We judge our value by seeing ourselves reflected in the culture… and so if we rob girls or any underserved member of our population, to see themselves reflected in the culture, we’re sending a very clear message to them that they don't matter as much, and the rest of the population that they don’t matter as much,” Davis said.
Amy Lientz was among the attendees.
Lientz told KTVB that the conference made her realize how much influence we all have.
“It made me think in terms of the small little things we can do,” she said.
“That unconscious bias seeps into our everyday habits of life, and so making that awareness resonate through everything we do and we just need to do better and really making sure we have good role models for our young girls,” Lientz said.
Davis addressed the #MeToo and Time's Up movements after the conference.
“Even though we still see tremendous resistance that is happening today, people trying to get women to, don't speak up, you're going to face terrible consequences if you do,” Davis said. “There's no silencing women anymore.”
That message resonates with the institute's motto : "If she can see it, she can be it."
"Evidence has shown that if we change what people see on screen, it will change real life,” Davis said. “That life will imitate art and that if we show it, it will happen in real life.”