This week Full Frame examines how women are portrayed in cinema, media and around the world. Tune in to Full Frame on CCTV America at 8:00 pm EDT on May 10, 2014. Or watch the live stream of the program here.

Full Frame Newsmaker: Geena Davis, A Cinematic World with Women

For more than a century, women everywhere have fought for economic and educational equality and political empowerment.  And they have fought to erase stereotypes. In our time – they have fought to alter portrayals of women in media and entertainment, which tend to undermine the status of women in everyday life.

While watching G-rated films with her young daughter, Academy Award-winning actress Geena Davis noticed how few roles were played by women – even in animated films.  Questioning what she was seeing, she uncovered an alarming statistic: the ratio of male to female characters in Hollywood films has been exactly the same since 1946. She realized the necessity of altering portrayals of women in media and entertainment and decided to create an institute to tackle this issue – The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media.

Geena Davis talks with Mike Walter

Geena Davis joins Mike Walter on Full Frame this week to discuss how women are portrayed in film and television – and what she’s doing to bring about change.

Full Frame In-Depth: Portrayal of Women in the Media

A 2012 study commissioned by the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, and completed by researchers at the University of Southern California, examined gender roles in media popular with youth. The authors concluded that “…female characters {in film, television, and children’s programming} are still sidelined, stereotyped, and sexualized in popular entertainment content.”

Unfortunately, the same can probably be said about the portrayal of women in many other types of media as well – from advertising, to publishing, and even journalism.

Jessica Bennett, Contributing Editor at Lean In and curator of the Lean In Collection on Getty Images, Kara Eschbach, Editor-in-Chief and publisher of Verily Magazine, Dana Seguin , Senior Director of Marketing for the Aerie line at American Eagle Outfitters

But an effort is being made to change those portrayals and Full Frame brought together three women who are on the frontlines of that effort:

• Jessica Bennett, Contributing Editor at Lean In and curator of the Lean In Collection on Getty Images
• Kara Eschbach, Editor-in-Chief and publisher of Verily Magazine
• Dana Seguin , Senior Director of Marketing for the Aerie line at American Eagle Outfitters

Full Frame Insight: Modern Chinese Women at a Crossroads

Like so many things in China, the images of women portrayed in film, television, and magazines have undergone dramatic change. Thirty years ago, women were just emerging from the restricted images of the Maoist-era when Chinese women were portrayed nearly always in a glorified and almost heroic way. Today the modern Chinese woman is portrayed – online, on air, and in more than forty-five glossy fashion magazines — including international brands like Elle and Cosmopolitan. But Chinese women are grappling with balancing the influences of tradition and those of rampant commercialization in their lives.

To get one perspective on the pressures on Chinese women, Full Frame spoke to Chinese-American author and women’s rights advocate, Joy Chen.

Chinese-American author and women’s rights advocate, Joy Chen.

Chen’s book, Do Not Marry before Age Thirty, has gained many readers in China. It discusses the pressures on Chinese women to marry before the age of 25 or be regarded as so-called ‘left-over’ women. 

Full Frame Essay: Documenting Women Improving The Lives of Children

After a lucrative career in marketing and corporate communications, Paola Gianturco felt she needed to take a leap into work that was more personal. She turned to her love of photography and took off on an adventure — traveling the world while documenting empowered women. She photographed women all around the globe and shared their stories in their own words.

Paola Gianturco

Paola has now published five photographic books, her most recent being Grandmother Power. The book features 120 activist – and inspiring — grandmothers who are working to make the world a better place for children.

Tune in to Full Frame on CCTV America at 8:00 pm EDT on May 10, 2014. Or watch the live stream of the program here.