Was 2023 Really The Year For Women In Films? Study Shows 10-Year Low

While women-led films like Barbie and Bottoms received great laurels in 2023, a recent study has revealed a huge plot twist. A University of Southern California Annenberg Inclusion Initiative study has revealed that only 30% of Hollywood films were led by women in 2023, exposing a 10-year low. The research was authored by Katherine L. Neff, Smith, and Dr Katherine Pieper and studied 1700 top-grossing movie releases from 2007 to 2023, examining gender, race/ethnicity and age of leading and co-leading stars. USC Associate Professor of Communication Stacy L Smith, who led the study, expressed in a statement, “This is a catastrophic step back for girls and women in film.” 

On the bright side, 37 out of 100 of the studied films were led/co-led by actors from an underrepresented racial or ethnic group, marking a growth from the number stuck at 31 in 2022, according to Smith. However, even this increase in representation was limited to the men in the industry and not the women (women of colour), according to a report in Deadline. 

Why Are Women-Led Films Seeing Decline?

Research head Stacy L Smith explained that the numbers reflected in the USC study represent how women are often sidelined in the entertainment industry, like any other career. Even after considering the strikes, the researchers failed to understand the reason why this "industry failure" had occurred.

Moreover, only 14 films in 2023 had a woman of colour (WOC) as the main character, 4 less than in 2022. Study author Katherine Neff remarked that not only were the young WOC missing out in this case, but their middle-aged or older counterparts were witnessing a wider erasure.

The study revealed that only three films from the study had women aged 45 years or older as the protagonists-- Keri Russell in Cocaine Bear, Nia Vardalos in My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Salma Hayek in Magic Mike's Last Dance. Only one of these is a woman of colour. Au contraire, eight films had an underrepresented man who was 45 years or older in a leading role. Meanwhile, 24 movies offered a 45-year-old- or older white man the lead or co-lead role. 

Behind the scenes, out of the 30 films led by a girl or woman, 36.7% were directed by women, whereas men directed the 63.3% majority. Meanwhile, 4.3% of movies without a girl or woman lead character had a woman director. On the contrary, 9.5% of films that missed an underrepresented lead had an underrepresented director. 51.3% of the 37 films with underrepresented lead/co-lead were championed by an underrepresented director.