• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch

2

MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year

3

Current price of oil as of July 1, 2026

1

As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch

2

MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year

3

Current price of oil as of July 1, 2026
MPW

How Amy Poehler’s #SmartGirlsAsk actually made Emmy red carpet questions less sexist

By
Marin Gazzaniga
Marin Gazzaniga
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Marin Gazzaniga
Marin Gazzaniga
Down Arrow Button Icon
September 21, 2015, 1:10 PM ET
67th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards - Arrivals
LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 20: Actress Amy Poehler attends the 67th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater on September 20, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)Photograph by Frazer Harrison — Getty Images
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Could it be that the movement to make entertainment award shows about more than mani-cams and “Who are you wearing?” is beginning to make some progress?

At last year’s Emmys, the advocacy group The Representation Project started the hashtag #AskHerMore to urge celebrity journalists to ask actresses and other women more substantive questions. But the hashtag didn’t seem to have much impact—especially when you consider that actress Sofia Vergara ended up on a rotating turntable clearly designed to flaunt her figure at one point during the ceremony.

The group tried again during the 2015 Oscars, with actors like Reese Witherspoon taking to social media to beg red carpet reporters to #AskHerMore. The theme of the campaign seemed to resonate that time, with Patricia Arquette weighing in on the gender wage gap during her acceptance speech (and the enthusiastic reactions she got from Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lopez spreading like wildfire on social media).

For this year’s Primetime Emmy Awards, Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls, an online community dedicated to empowering young people to be their “authentic selves,” riffed on the #AskHerMore idea to create a new social media campaign. Using the hashtag #SmartGirlsAsk, the organization asked people to tweet red carpet questions that they actually want to hear the answers to. The campaign took off online, garnering tweets from celebrities, fans and even powerful women such as Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, General Motors CEO Mary Barra, and Hollywood bigwig Shonda Rhimes.

But did #SmartGirlsAsk actually have an impact on the red carpet?

Smart Girls was on the scene, asking the celebs questions from their Twitter stream, taping and live-tweeting responses. Poehler’s team was equal opportunity, cornering men as well as women with its videocamera—though the campaign did favor actors over behind-the-scenes nominees. Lesli Linka Glatter was the only directing nominee Fortune spotted. (Glatter was nominated for best direction of a TV drama for her work on Homeland.)

.@jordynbold #Emmys @leslilinkag #SmartGirlsAsk pic.twitter.com/g4fq9IHtRJ

— AmyPoehlerSmartGirls (@smrtgrls) September 20, 2015

Katie Couric’s question made the cut, and was posed to another of the non-actors included in the #SmartGirlsAsk video stream: Jenji Kohan, creator of Orange in the New Black.

.@katiecouric #SmartGirlsAsk #Emmys #JenjiKohan @OITNB pic.twitter.com/6Y6ZwWXHFM

— AmyPoehlerSmartGirls (@smrtgrls) September 21, 2015

Meanwhile, over at E’s Red Carpet show, Ryan Seacrest appeared to be taking heed of the Twitter campaigns pleading for smarter questions, focusing his queries a bit less on fashion and asking more about nominees’ work on their shows and upcoming projects.

The change in tone on the red carpet also seemed to trickle over into the ceremony itself. In his opening monologue, host Andy Samberg worked in jokes about diversity and sexism. Pretending he misread the teleprompter, he said:

“The wage gap between men and woman hired for major roles in Hollywood is still an issue… Wait, I’m sorry I misread that. The age gap between men and woman hired for major roles in Hollywood is still an issue… Wait, I’m sorry I misread it again. It’s both! Still both. So crappy on two fronts.”

Then there were the pre-taped questions asked to nominees for Best Writing and Directing for a Comedy Series, in which Best Director winner Jill Soloway managed to crack a joke about feminist theory on national TV, saying: “The hardest part of writing is trying to be funny in the presence of the male gaze—g-a-z-e, not gays”​

All in all, it was a good night for women in Hollywood, with women winning in categories that weren’t limited to best actress. Lisa Cholodenko and Jill Soloway won directing awards, Jane Anderson won Best Writing for a Limited Series (Olive Kitteridge) and Inside Amy Schumer, with six female staff writers, won for best Variety Sketch Series, a category normally completely dominated by men.

Now it’s up to the 2106 Oscars to keep the trend going.

Subscribe to The Broadsheet, Fortune’s daily newsletter on the world’s most powerful women.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author
By Marin Gazzaniga
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in MPW

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in MPW

ice
PoliticsImmigration
ICE arrested a woman in a habit walking to mass, then released her after realizing she was a nun
By Valerie Gonzalez and The Associated PressJune 30, 2026
2 days ago
MacKenzie Scott (left); Elon Musk (right)
SuccessMacKenzie Scott
Elon Musk on MacKenzie Scott giving away $26 billion of her fortune: ‘Sadly,’ it makes the world a worse place
By Sydney LakeJune 29, 2026
3 days ago
swisher
Politicspodcasts
‘Podcasts are the NBA’: Scott Galloway on Kara Swisher’s big success — ‘there’s a small amount of people making a lot of money’
By Steven Sloan and The Associated PressJune 29, 2026
3 days ago
np
PoliticsColleges and Universities
Nancy Pelosi brings her legendary congressional knowhow to a new Berkeley institute with $35 million in funding
By Kevin Freking and The Associated PressJune 29, 2026
3 days ago
Illustration of a bomb with the Bitcoin logo printed on it, against an orange background.
CryptoCryptocurrency
Bitcoin down 20% since May as Strategy fallout spooks investors
By Camila Grigera NaónJune 26, 2026
6 days ago
MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America’s $19.2 billion in megagifts last year
SuccessMacKenzie Scott
MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America’s $19.2 billion in megagifts last year
By Sydney LakeJune 25, 2026
8 days ago

Most Popular

As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch
Big Tech
As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezJuly 1, 2026
2 days ago
MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year
Success
MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year
By Sydney LakeJune 25, 2026
8 days ago
Current price of oil as of July 1, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of July 1, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 1, 2026
1 day ago
Trump got a $78K pension from the Screen Actors Guild in 2025 because he appeared in Home Alone 2 in 1992
Politics
Trump got a $78K pension from the Screen Actors Guild in 2025 because he appeared in Home Alone 2 in 1992
By Sasha RogelbergJuly 1, 2026
1 day ago
Today, Emily Blunt is worth $80 million thanks to her Hollywood career—but she actually wanted to be a UN Spanish translator on $80K
Success
Today, Emily Blunt is worth $80 million thanks to her Hollywood career—but she actually wanted to be a UN Spanish translator on $80K
By Orianna Rosa RoyleJuly 2, 2026
16 hours ago
CEO of $248 billion cybersecurity company says workers are about to face a ‘Darwinian moment’ thanks to AI: Evolve or get cut
Success
CEO of $248 billion cybersecurity company says workers are about to face a ‘Darwinian moment’ thanks to AI: Evolve or get cut
By Emma BurleighJuly 1, 2026
1 day ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.