Women make up only a quarter of non-acting nominees at this year’s Oscars, it has been calculated.
A study by the Women’s Media Center – an organisation co-founded in 2005 by Jane Fonda, Robin Morgan and Gloria Steinem – established that 25% of behind-the-camera nominees were female – and none were in the categories for directing, cinematography, editing, original score and visual effects.
Fonda said: “A nomination for an Academy Award can open doors. With three out of every four non-acting nominations going to men, women, again, are missing that stamp of approval.”
The percentage was a slight improvement on last year’s 23%. However, in what the WMC describes as “a blow for an industry that seemed to be heading in a different direction” after the impact of the #MeToo and Time’s Up campaigns, none of the eight best picture nominees was directed by a woman.
The lack of female best director nominees was also a major concern, with the report noting that film-makers including Chloé Zhao (The Rider), Debra Granik (Leave No Trace) and Lynne Ramsay (You Were Never Really Here) as “noticeably shut out”. Can You Ever Forgive Me? secured nominations for Melissa McCarthy and Richard E Grant, as well as its screenwriters Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty, but was denied nominations for best director for Marielle Heller or best picture. However, the report concluded this was an industry-wide problem, as the Golden Globes, the Directors Guild of America and the Baftas also did not nominate any female directors.
The report noted that Rachel Morrison, who made history in 2018 by becoming the first woman to be Oscar nominated for cinematography for Mudbound, did not receive a nomination for her work on Black Panther, although the film is up for awards in seven other categories.
On the other hand, the report hailed the success of animator Domee Shi, who is the first woman to direct a short for Pixar, for her film Bao. It observed that Pixar’s owner, Disney, has “taken dramatic steps to break up the boys’ club” at the animation studio.
Julie Burton, president of the WMC, said: “Since the Women’s Media Center started counting the number of women nominated for non-acting Academy Awards as of 2006, the overall percentage of women nominees has increased from 18 to 25%. By that calculation, it will take another 50 years for women to be equally represented by the Academy. We need industry leaders to get on board and hire more women, especially women of colour, in front of and behind the camera.”
