Here's what Meghan Markle, Katie Couric and Brooke Shields said at SXSW 2024 panel

Katie Couric knew the impact she could have as a leading lady of television news. She had lived it — inspired by "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" as a child to become a journalist.

In 1991, at 34 years old and five months pregnant, she became co-anchor of NBC's "The Today Show," alongside Bryant Gumbel, and asked to be given 50-50 responsibility for the show. She said Gumbel agreed to a 51-49 split, in order to create the illusion that he was still in control.

"I said, 'This is how I want to be seen,' because I knew the impact. I knew little girls were watching while getting ready for school with their moms and I wanted them to say 'Look, she is just as good as (Gumbel),'" Couric said.

Couric spoke at a keynote panel, “Breaking Barriers, Shaping Narratives: How Women Lead On and Off the Screen,” at South by Southwest at the Austin Convention Center on Friday. She was joined by Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex; actress Brooke Shields; and sociologist Nancy Wang Yuen for a panel moderated by The 19th News Editor-at-Large Errin Haines, to discuss the tribulations that girls and women face in social media, pop culture, film and television, in the lead-up to the 96th Academy Awards.

Guided by research by the University of Southern California and the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, the panelists shared their personal experiences as public figures facing scrutiny, both publicly and privately, in their fight to gain traction in their respective careers.

Hollywood eats its young, but it might be getting better

"Hollywood is predicated on eating its young. It wants to build you up and devour you," Shields said about her experience in show business, and her first major acting role, playing a prostitute as an 11-year-old, in the 1978 film "Pretty Baby." "(Hollywood) has gotten better, but we still have a long way to go."

Couric mirrored her sentiments. The day after she hosted "CBS Evening News" for the first time, nearly two decades ago, critics judged the color of her jacket and her physical appearance.

Couric noted that all current presidents of the news divisions at ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC and Fox News are women, though the directors of major streaming companies are white men.

Diversity in film and television

Haines cited a study by the University of Southern California' on diversity in film and television, which found that representations of people of color have increased. However, Yuen pointed out that men of color are more frequently represented than women of color in film and television. She said smaller film studios like A24 — producer of Academy Award-winning "Everything Everywhere All at Once" — not legacy film studios, are more likely to create films with people of color.

"It's not just the right thing to do; it's also been economically successful and useful," Haines said.

Echoing Haines, Couric said, "People want to see themselves reflected in the content they're consuming."

Responsibility for change

The panelists discussed their collective responsibility for changing cultural perceptions of women and mothers with careers, whether in the limelight or not.

"We have a responsibility and all of this systemic change has to happen at the same time as a cultural change is happening," Markle said in regards to the dangers of social media.

Her nonprofit organization, Archewell Foundation, founded alongside her husband, Prince Harry, sponsored a report on cultural portrayals of motherhood in television. The report found that most portrayals of mothers on television are young, white and thin.

"What's happening in the digital space in certain sectors of the media, we have forgotten about our humanity. ... And I understand that a lot of money is being made there. But even if it's making dollars, it doesn't make sense," Markle said. "At the end of the day, all people, but women especially, want to feel seen and want to feel heard."