Women-Led Films Fell Close To 30% In 2023, Near A 10-Year Low, Per Study

deadline.com:

Barbie may have rescued the box office in 2023, but she could not tip the balance for representation of women in films. Even as state legislatures consider restricting or eliminating DEI initiatives at public institutions, the percentage of women, women of color and women 45+ in films in 2023 has plummeted to lows not seen in almost a decade, according to the results of a study released this morning by the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative.

In fact, those percentages are the worst since 2014, despite Barbie. “It is a difficult lesson but one that must be restated: One film does not represent progress across the industry and cannot bear the burden of lifting the industry to inclusion,” wrote the study’s authors Katherine L.

Neff, Dr. Stacy L. Smith & Dr. Katherine Pieper. USC Annenberg analyzed “the gender identity, racial/ethnicity, and age of leads/co leads across the 100 top-grossing films from 2007 to 2023,” which encompassed more than 1,700 titles in all. “The findings are awful,” wrote Neff, Dr.

Smith & Dr. Katherine Pieper. “Despite posturing, the legacy studios have dealt little or reversed course on inclusion in popular films.” They stress that one film, even if it’s the year’s biggest, cannot make up for the relative dirth of representation in the remaining offerings. “The results this year point to an industry grown apathetic about efforts surrounding diversity and inclusion.