Gender Parity Remains Elusive as Men Dominate with 68% of Non-Acting Oscar Nominations - Women Make Moderate Gains in Nomination Representation

Full report: WMC Investigation 2024: Gender and Non-Acting Oscar Nominations

Infographic: WMC Investigation 2024: Gender and Non-Acting Oscar Nominations - Infographics

WASHINGTON — Women made modest year-to-year gains in the non-acting nominations for the 2024 Academy Awards with 32% going to women, matching the previous high set in 2021. Even with an all-time high for women, men still overwhelmingly dominate with 68%, according to a new Women’s Media Center report.

The WMC analysis attributes the increase to more women nominees in the major categories of Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Editing, and in the below-the-line crafts categories of Best Makeup, Best Original Score, Best Production Design, Best Visual Effects, and Best Documentary Feature.

For the first time in Oscars history, three films by women are nominated for Best Picture — one by a woman of color. Two of the films, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Anatomy of a Fall, directed by Justine Triet, are nominated across multiple categories including Best Picture, while Past Lives, the first film by a woman of Korean descent, Celine Song, to earn a Best Picture nomination, obtained nominations for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay.

“There are glimmers of hope for women in the 2024 non-acting categories for the Academy Awards with the nomination of three films by women for Best Picture,” said WMC President and CEO Julie Burton. “But with 68% of the overall behind-the-scenes nominations going to men, it’s very apparent that much more work has to be done to achieve gender parity. Women, who are more than half of the U.S. population, deserve equal access to the enhanced stature, money and opportunity that come with a prestigious Oscar nomination.”

Gerwig directed the highest-grossing film of the year. Yet, for the second time in a row, Gerwig was denied a Best Director nomination, despite receiving recognition for her direction at the Golden Globes, the Critics Choice Awards, and the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Awards.

“I was honored to present Justine Triet with the Palme d’Or at Cannes last year for her exceptional work on Anatomy of a Fall,” said WMC co-founder Jane Fonda. “On behalf of the Women’s Media Center, I am equally proud to congratulate Justine for her Oscar nomination as Best Director. We are disappointed, however, that Greta and other women filmmakers were not nominated in 2024 for their excellence. We encourage the Academy to do better.”

In the major categories of Best Picture, Directing, Writing, and Editing combined, 16 (29%) of the nominees are women, and 39 (71%) are men. This compares to nine (15%) women and 50 (85%) men nominated in these combined categories last year. Women, however, are shut out of the cinematography and sound categories.

“This report is a stark reminder that the overwhelming majority of Oscar nominations for non-acting roles continue to go to men,” said WMC Chair Janet Dewart Bell. “The Women’s Media Center is committed to raising the awareness of this disparity in our fight for a more level playing field.”

Other report highlights include:

• In the Best Picture category, nine women (29%) and 22 men (71%) are among the 31 producers nominated. This is an increase of 8 percentage points from last year, but falls far short of the all-time high of 39% from 2020.
  
  
• In Directing, while women were shut out of the category last year, this year one (20%) out of the five nominees is a woman, and four (80% are men).
  
  
• Three of the eight writers nominated in Original Screenplay in 2024 (37.5%) are women, which is the highest percentage for women in the category since 2018 and ends a two-year streak of having no women nominated at all. Celine Song became the first woman of Korean descent to be nominated in Original Screenplay.
  
  
• For Best Editing, two (40%) out of five nominees are women, and three (60%) are men. In 2023, just one woman (17%) was nominated and five (83%) men.

The Women’s Media Center is an inclusive and feminist organization that works to raise the visibility, viability, and decision-making power of women and girls in media by ensuring that their stories get told and their voices are heard. We do this by researching and monitoring media; creating and modeling original online and on-air content; training women to be effective in media; and promoting women experts in all fields.

For more information, contact WMC Communications Director Cristal Williams Chancellor at cristal@womensmediacenter.com or (202) 270-8539.

Full report: WMC Investigation 2024: Gender and Non-Acting Oscar Nominations

Infographic: WMC Investigation 2024: Gender and Non-Acting Oscar Nominations - Infographics