Women represent 11.6% of the directors of world films, according to a new study by the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative. The figure is one of the indicators that women’s participation in the film industry at a global level is changing, but still far from equality.
Dr. Stacy L. Smith shared the results of the study on Monday during the Women in Film in Film in Film from the University of Oxford. (“Bridgerton” Breakout Simon Ashley, “Surface” Star Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Dr. Smith Led The Lineup at The Daylong Conference.) The Report Focuses On Women’s Progress Across Four Areas Of Interest: AS Global Film Directors Across 11 Countries, Film Festivals Across Six Countries Directors, Writers and Producers at the Academy Awards, Baftas and César Awards) and AS Film Executives (At Studios, Distributors and Subsidiaries in the United States, the United Kingdom and France).
The study examines the long long narrative films that have won $ 1 million at the world box office and from 11 countries (Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, United Kingdom and United States). In total, 4,532 films were evaluated and the sex of 4,991 directors was evaluated.
Although no country is about to reach the global reference of the population by 50%, the three countries with the highest percentage of women administrators were Germany (18.7%), the United Kingdom (18.5%) and Australia (18.3%). The countries with the lowest percentage were India (4.9%), Japan (4.7%) and the Republic of Korea (9.1%). Women represent 11.3.% Of directors in the United States, which is tied with the average. The percentage of women of color in the director’s chair (5.7% in 2024) has doubled in the last decade (2.5% in 2015), but the figure is still with figures.
“For several years, we have examined the prevalence of women’s women’s female directors,” said Dr. Smith in a press release. “The results of this report demonstrate that there is still a stronger rise in the first position of leadership in film for Women, whatever the country in which they work. The encouraging conclusion in this analysis is that there has been a change in certain countries and in particular in the United Kingdom ”
As Dr. Smith, Canada, France, Japan, the Republic of Korea and the United Kingdom have demonstrated increases in the past 10 years. The United Kingdom has experienced the greatest growth over the past decade; In 2024, 32.3% of its administrators were women – an increase of 6.6% compared to 2023 (25.7%) and 24% greater than 2015 (8.3%). Compared, in 2024, 16.2% of American films were made by women, which is double the figure of 2015 (8.5%).
Unveiled just before the start of the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday, the report develops research that Katherine Pieper, Dr Smith and Annenberg, presented in April during an event highlighting the achievements of the Kering Women in Motion program. (This report studied 3,240 narrative films made in Australia, France, Germany, Italy, the United States and the United Kingdom which brought in at least $ 1 million in the world and the alignments of five best film festivals: Cannes, Berlin, Venise, Sundance and Toronto. The new study has studied five other countries as well as London Film Festival.)
Over 10 years of programming with the six film festivals, only 27.8% of narrative films were made by women. Sundance presented the highest percentage of women directors (34.7%), followed by Berlin (30.3%), Toronto (29.4%), London (25.9%), Cannes (21.6%) and Venice (20.5%). The study also breaks down the progress of women narrative directors at each festival per year, if their films have been shown in competition, a break in representation by race / ethnicity and the prevalence of non -binary directors.
The study also estimates the artistic recognition of women in the best film, director, original script and categories of scenarios adapted to Oscars, Bafta and César Awards from 2015 to 2025 (11 years of nominations). In the three award organizations, women were more likely to be nominated in the best film category (26.7%), followed by the original scenario (24.1%) and the suitable scenario (22.5%). Only 14.8% of the best candidates of the administrators were women (a gender report of 5.8 male administrators appointed for each woman).
Finally, the study examined 1,367 leaders between film companies in the United States, the United Kingdom and France. Overall, 56% of managers were men and 44% were women. Parity was carried out in France, where 50% of managers identified were women, against 46.6% in the United Kingdom and 42.9% in the United States, the study also explored the rank of leaders, noting that women were the most widespread in senior VP roles (52%) in the United States, while women filled 54.3% of VP / HEAD / HEAD / Director 70% of first level first -level positions in French. Women colored frameworks represented less than a quarter (24.4%) of the count in the three countries. Sixteen women of color occupied level C roles in the United States, four of whom were specifically responsible for creating content.
“Overall, the results reveal that women have found ways to present their talent for narration in various places – but that they are always underrepresented compared to men,” concludes the study.
Although the degree of this marginalization differs according to the country, the film festival, the type of reward and the executive role, note the authors, women of colors are faced with the highest challenges. “Through the analyzes reported here, the opportunities for women in under-represented racial / ethnic groups remain less robust and these women remain less recognized than white women,” write the authors. “Our other works show that women of color often tell the most examined stories, so the continuous exclusion of these storytellers reflects a bias of the current industry that exists on a global scale.”
