The issue of gender inequality in the American film industry was highlighted by the lack of female nominations at the 2015 Oscars. As bad and embarrassing as that was for Hollywood, a new report has revealed just how little women appear in front of the camera or orchestrate events behind it.
The report, entitled "Inequality in 700 popular films", found that female speaking characters appeared in films 29.9 percent of the time in 2007; this fell even further to 28.1 percent in 2014. Out of 100 top films last year, only 21 featured a female lead or co lead.
Women are an endangered species behind the camera as well. In 2014, only 1.9 percent of directors were female, 11.2 percent were writers and 18.9 percent were producers. The report also paints a distorted demographic picture. Across Hollywood last year, 73.1 percent of film characters were white. Only 12.5 percent were black while 4.9 percent were Hispanic. There was a very limited Lesbian, Gay or Bisexual (none identified as Transgender) presence in the American film industry as well - only 14 of last year's top 100 films had 1 or more LGBT character.
Looking for employment in Hollywood? Unless you are a straight white male, you might have better luck searching for a job elsewhere.
*Click below to enlarge (charted by Statista)
