Oscars 2017 Study: Women Lose Ground in Non-Acting Categories
After last year’s #OscarsSoWhite backlash, this year’s Academy Awards contenders are a diverse bunch, with Mahershala Ali and Dev Patel competing in the Best Supporting Actor category, Denzel Washington in the Best Actor field, Ruth Negga up for Best Actress, and Viola Davis, Naomie Harris, and Octavia Spencer going for gold in the Best Supporting Actress contest (the first time three African-American women have ever competed against one another in a single category). And yet regardless of those and other nominations, a new study shows that, in other respects, the Academy still has a ways to go when it comes to equality.
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As reported by EW.com, the Women’s Media Center (cofounded by Jane Fonda, Robin Morgan, and Gloria Steinem) has released its analysis of the nominees for the 89th Academy Awards, and those findings are dispiriting. Women made up only 20 percent of all Oscar nominees in non-acting categories — a drop of 2 percentage points from 2016’s levels. That includes no females making the cut in the Best Director or Best Cinematography categories (the latter of which has never given a woman a nod) and only one receiving a nomination in the Best Screenplay categories (nAllison Schroeder for Hidden Figures).
Julie Burton, president of the Women’s Media Center, was blunt in her assessment of their study’s results:
“We have a saying: ‘If you can see it, you can be it,’ but in the crucial behind-the-scenes non-acting roles, our investigation shows that what you see is 80 percent of all nominees are men. Four out of five nominees are men — meaning male voices and perspectives are largely responsible for what we see on screen.”
There were some strides in 2016: Mica Levi became the first female composer to receive a nomination (for Jackie) since 2000; Joi McMillon became the first African-American editor to ever receive a nomination in that field; and nine women were nominated as producers in the Best Picture line-up. Still, given that so many of 2016’s best movies were about, and led by, strong women — Arrival, Jackie, Elle, 20th Century Women — this report’s conclusions are a depressing reminder that, in many facets of movie production, women remain woefully under-represented.
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