, co-author of the report. “It’s past time for the film industry to recognize that stories about women of color have a place in theaters. Girls and women of color are 20% of the U.S. population, but the film industry has not ensured that this is what audiences see on screen. With effort and accountability, this threshold is one that not only can be achieved but easily surpassed.” Her co-authors are Katherine L. Neff and Dr. Katherine Pieper.
The report concluded that “optimism about positive change in film is unwarranted. Although there has been an increase in lead/co-lead roles for girls and women since 2007, there was no significant difference between 2021 and 2022,” and remains “almost identical to 2019. The advocacy and activism that may have fueled change in the mid- to late-2010s may have had a short-term impact, but more is needed to achieve lasting improvement.
The report also found that ageism is still present in the casting of feature films. “Hollywood has long valued youth and beauty over experience,” the report says, “thereby putting a sell-by-date on women actors in their forties and beyond.” The report also examined the employment patterns of the major film distributors, finding that “only two companies reached proportional representation when it came to girls/women in leading or co-leading roles. Moreover, none of the distributors achieved proportional representation when it came to underrepresented leads/co-leads.