Natalie Dormer has some wise words about the importance of female characters

If 2015 was the year we started talking about the gender imbalance in Hollywood, then 2016 is the year we do something about it, and it’s all thanks to women like Natalie Dormer who use their popularity and platform to speak up about what’s important. In an interview with The Daily Beast, the Game of Thrones actress talked about these issues, as well as the changes she hopes are coming in the industry.

“I think the tide is turning. I think that finally the money men are understanding that 50 percent of the population is female, and it’s only right that we have more three-dimensional, fleshed-out, contradictory female characters,” she explained. “Television like Game of Thrones, which I’m very proud to be a part of, has led the way in giving cinema a good lesson, which is that it needs to catch up in the equality stakes.”

Yes, in fact we have a lot of TV to thank for bringing powerful, thoughtful, and flawed women into the spotlight, whether that’s Abbi and Ilana from Broady City or Olivia Pope in Scandal. As excited as we are that women are finally getting better representation, Natalie Dormer knows that it’s going to take some time. It’s easy to see that as a bad thing, but Dormer disagrees.

“Let’s see that it’s an evolution and that it’s coming,” she says. “People have got the message. It’s coming. So let’s lean on the positive.”

This issue also goes beyond the screen, and that’s definitely something Dormer wants us to keep in mind. “Yes, there needs to be more female directors making movies,” she continues. “And yes, there needs to be more female writers. But there needs to be more female CEOs. There needs to be more female brain surgeons. This isn’t just an industry issue. This is a world issue.”

We couldn’t agree more.

(Image via Jaguar PS / Shutterstock.com)

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