'Sexism in Hollywood has been entrenched forever,' says Geena Davis

Actress Geena Davis, Frozen writer Jennifer Lee and Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins were among the Hollywood heavyweights encouraging women to get behind the scenes and help shift the industry's direction at theannual Women in Entertainment summit in Los Angeles Thursday.

"Sexism in Hollywood has been entrenched forever, but I do think this is a watershed moment," Davis, who heads up an institute on gender in media, told CBC News.

"What's going to be different about it now is not just women supporting women, it's men needing to become involved."

Actress Geena Davis, Frozen writer Jennifer Lee, SAG president Gabrielle Carteris on sexual harassment

7 years ago

Duration 1:33

Influential women discuss what can be done to support women coming forward about sexual misconduct

Hollywood's dark side continues to unravel with mounting allegations of sexual harassment, abuse and improprieties, initially sparked by accusations made against disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.

Since then, Bugsy screenwriter James Toback,House of Cards star Kevin Spaceyand many others have been accused ofsexual misconduct.

"What I really appreciate that I've been hearing the last couple of months is when a woman speaks about this, we're taking it seriously. And weshould," said Lee.

But the head of SAG-AFTRA, the American actors' union, said there's a danger in focusing too much on individual perpetrators.

"My major concern is, really, that with the allegations that are taking place, that people are focusing so much on those individuals that we're hearing about... I don't know what the outcome will be, but there will be outcomes," SAG-AFTRA presidentGabrielle Carteris told CBC.

"I don't want that to be satisfactory enough for us to stop the search on how to end theepidemic."

Jenkins also gave a talkat the networking event, but did not speak withmedia.

Brett Ratner, a close friend of Jenkins' and co-financier of Wonder Woman, has also been accused of sexual harassment. She tweeted Wednesday that she was "extremely distressed" to learn about the allegations, after having presented an award to him at a Los Angeles function just days before.

Carteris, a former actressknown for her role on Beverly Hills, 90210, says there's a larger issue that needs to be addressed.

"You're seeing a lot of courage coming up right now. You're seeing a lot of people step forward. The thing is, a lot of this stuff is from before," she said.

"Moving forward, how do we go and prevent this harassment from happening and also how do we empower people so they can speak in the moment? Because that's when we can really shift the situation."