Little progress for women in non-acting Oscar nominations - 70 percent of non-acting nominations go to men


WASHINGTON, D.C. — The overall percentage of female Oscar nominees in non-acting categories rose by just 5 percent to 30 percent this year — a long way from gender parity — according to a Women’s Media Center analysis.

Full report: WMC investigation 2020 - Gender and non-acting Oscar nominations - full report

Infographic: WMC investigation 2020 - Gender and non-acting Oscar nominations - infographic

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The overall percentage of female Oscar nominees in non-acting categories rose by just 5 percent to 30 percent this year — a long way from gender parity — according to a Women’s Media Center analysis.

The report examines the representation of women in 19 non-acting categories for the 92nd Academy Awards, including the influential producing, directing, writing, and editing categories. Of the 186 total nominees, 56 are women, and 130, or 70 percent, are men.

While women wrote and directed more profitable and critically acclaimed films than ever before in 2019, and more women had other significant roles behind the camera, that shift was not reflected in the Oscar nominations.

For the second straight year, there were no women nominated in the Best Director category, although the number of female directors is on the rise. Two of the year’s blockbusters were co-directed by women: Frozen 2 and Captain Marvel. In addition, Greta Gerwig’s Little Women earned $98 million at the box office, and Lorene Scafaria’s Hustlers earned over $100 million. Kasi Lemmons’ Harriet earned $43 million, as did Melina Matsoukas’ Queen & Slim. Marielle Heller, who was shut out of a nomination last year for Can You Ever Forgive Me?, directed A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, which earned $61 million.

Unless the voting members of the Academy include a critical mass of women and people of color in all non-acting categories, it is hard to imagine equality of representation in Academy Award nominations,” said Julie Burton, president and CEO of the Women’s Media Center. “Becoming a voting member of the Academy’s director branch includes rules that make it difficult for many women directors to qualify. Today’s Academy voting membership shut women out of contention for Best Director this year. The absence of women nominees is particularly glaring because we know that there was no shortage of women eligible for this prestigious honor. The lack of women nominated for Best Director continues a long tradition of bias in the Academy — over the 92 years of the Academy Awards, only five women directors have ever been nominated for an Oscar — meaning, in the history of the Academy Awards, 99 percent of all Best Director nominees have been men and only 1 percent have been women. The Women’s Media Center urges all branches of the Academy Awards to kick up their representative numbers to reflect the real world and not just an exclusive boys’ club.”

“The Academy has been taking small steps toward gender parity, but more needs to be done if it is serious about real change,” said WMC co-founder Jane Fonda.

Olivia Wilde’sBooksmart, Kasi Lemmons’ Harriet, and Nisha Ganatra’s Late Night were not only written and directed by women but also staffed by women in prominent roles. Booksmart, which earned Emily Halpern, Sarah Haskins, Susanna Fogel, and Katie Silberman a Writers Guild nomination for Best Original Screenplay, nevertheless did not make the Oscars cut for Original Screenplay. Lorene Scafaria’s Hustlers had a strong contender for Best Supporting Actress in Jennifer Lopez and earned $100 million, but Lopez didn’t receive an Oscars nod. Of these four films, only Harriet earned Oscar nominations: Best Original Song and Best Actress, for its star, Cynthia Erivo, who is one of few actors of color nominated this year.

“It was encouraging to see dual nominee Cynthia Erivo recognized for co-writing “Stand Up from the movie Harriet, the first biopic about the extraordinary life of freedom fighter Harriet Tubman,” said Janet Dewart Bell, WMC vice chair.

The number of nominations of women went up in the categories of Best Picture (producing), Film Editing, Animated Feature, Makeup and Hairstyling, Original Score, and Documentary Short. They stayed the same or dropped in the other 13 categories, including Best Director, Adapted Screenplay, Original Screenplay and Cinematography.

Of the nine films nominated for Best Picture, eight had at least one female producer. That’s up from last year, when only four out of eight did. Of the total of 23 producers nominated in 2020, nine are women, or 39 percent, compared to 20 percent last year.

“Congratulations to Kwak Sin-ae for her nomination as producer for Parasite. She is making history as one of the first Koreans to be nominated for Best Picture and one of the very few Asian women from anywhere to be nominated for an Oscar. The Women’s Media Center applauds her achievement,” said Helen Zia, WMC co-chair emerita.

One success story for women behind the camera is Greta Gerwig’s Little Women. Studio head–turned-producer Amy Pascal spearheaded the film, which earned a Best Picture nomination along with five other nominations, including Best Adapted Screenplay for Greta Gerwig, who was also the writer-director of the 2017 movie Lady Bird. Little Women opened to rave reviews and is on track to earn $100 million at the box office. Given its popular and critical success, many have wondered why Greta Gerwig wasn’t nominated for Best Director.

“Women continue to produce and direct films that are box office successes, yet the Academy repeatedly fails to adequately recognize their talents and achievements,” said Pat Mitchell, WMC co-chair. “The Sundance Film Festival created a new benchmark for feature films: 44 percent of all films are directed by women directors and 37 percent by filmmakers of color. The Academy is out of step with independent work as well as commercial successes.”

Industry veterans nominated this year include legendary editor Thelma Schoonmaker, nominated for the eighth time for The Irishman.

Oscar winners will be announced during the telecast on Sunday, February 9, on ABC.

Full report: WMC investigation 2020 - Gender and non-acting Oscar nominations - full report

Infographic: WMC investigation 2020 - Gender and non-acting Oscar nominations - infographic

The Women’s Media Center, co-founded by Jane Fonda, Robin Morgan, and Gloria Steinem, is an inclusive and feminist organization that works to raise the visibility, viability, and decision-making power of women and girls in media to ensure that their stories get told and their voices are heard. We do this by researching and monitoring media; creating and modeling original online, print, and podcast content; training women and girls to be effective in media; and promoting women experts in all fields.

For more information, contact Cristal Williams Chancellor, director of communications, at cristal@womensmediacenter.com or 202-270-8539.

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