Geena Davis’ keynote address at the Conference of the Society for Animation put numbers to the gender disparity in animation, both on the creative side and in the stories, according to Variety.  Only 17% of the Animation Guild members are female, she told her audience, and that’s the same percentage of female characters in animated films, a percentage that hasn’t changed since 1946.  Animated TV shows targeting viewers 7-11 are the worst at gender parity, she said. 

Davis also called out the presentation of female characters in animation, noting that female characters in G-rated animated films wore the same amount of revealing clothing as characters in R-rated movies and citing a study that showed that girls begin learning to self-sexualize by age 6.

Davis founded the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, a research-based organization working in children’s entertainment to improve gender balance, reduce stereotyping, and promote a wide variety of female characters in 2004.  It uses research, education, and advocacy to further its goals.

Of course, the conventional wisdom in animation is that girls will watch “boys” shows, but that boys won’t watch “girls” shows, a concept that's rarely challenged.  Davis suggested that the gender mix of characters be improved by simply going through scripts and changing the gender of characters.  Such a strategy wouldn’t change the stories but simply the gender of some of the characters.  She argued that such changes can have a positive effect on biases and social barriers.