2023 Marked ‘Historic Low’ for Women in Leading Film Roles, According to New Study: ‘This Is an Industry Failure’
variety.comAngelique Jackson In a year where the box office was dominated by the $1.4 billion-grossing “Barbie” — produced by its star Margot Robbie and directed by Greta Gerwig — one might expect to find a plethora of other hit films led by women and girls among Hollywood’s top earners.
However, 2023 marked a historic low for women in leading roles among the year’s 100 top-grossing films, according to the latest USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative report.
Researchers led by Dr. Stacy L. Smith found a major regression in terms of representation, with only 30 movies featuring women and girls in lead and co-lead roles.
That figure marks a sharp downturn from 2022, which tallied 44 films, and a number identical to that in 2010. “This is a catastrophic step back for girls and women in film,’” Smith stated in a press release describing the research findings. “In the last 14 years, we have charted progress in the industry, so to see this reversal is both startling and in direct contrast to all of the talk of 2023 as the ‘year of the woman.'” The study — authored by Katherine L.
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