Women's Media Center Releases 2015 Review of Women and Academy Awards

For Immediate Release

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Women’s Media Center today released its 2015 review of the status of women as nominees for non-acting Academy Awards.

Julie Burton, president of the Women’s Media Center stated, “The Women’s Media Center congratulates all Academy Award nominees – it is a great day of recognition for their talent and artistic vision. However, we are concerned that for the fourth year in a row, fewer than one in five of all non-acting nominees are women.”  Burton continued, “The stark disparity in the Oscar nominations this year – particularly in the categories of Directing and Writing – demonstrates that male voices and perspectives are largely responsible for what we see on screen. The Los Angeles Times conducted a study that showed that 94% of Academy voters are white and 77% are male – we wonder if these numbers have something to do with the fact that talented directors like Ava DuVernay (Selma) and Angelina Jolie (Unbroken) did not make the final cut.”

The Women’s Media Center analysis was conducted by Rachel Larris, communications manager of the Women’s Media Center.

A WMC infographic of the key findings demonstrates that the nominations tilt heavily towards men:

• Across 19 non-acting categories 149 men are nominated versus 35 women.


• There are seven Oscar categories with no women nominated (directing, writing—original screenplay, writing—adapted screenplay, cinematography, original score, visual effects, sound mixing).


• Since 2012, only 19% of all non-acting Oscar nominations have been for women.

(Click here to see the full breakdown of Oscar nominations by category)

Academy Award Categories with No Women Nominated

Directing (Number of Men Nominated: 5)
 

Number of women nominated 2014: 0
 

Number of women nominated 2013: 0


Number of women nominated 2012: 0   

Writing, original screenplay (Number of Men Nominated: 10)


Number of women nominated 2014: 1


Number of women nominated 2013: 0


Number of women nominated 2012: 2

Writing, adapted screenplay (Number of Men Nominated: 5)


Number of women nominated 2014: 1


Number of women nominated 2013: 1


Number of women nominated 2012: 1

Cinematography (Number of Men Nominated: 6)


Number of women nominated 2014: 0


Number of women nominated 2013: 0


Number of women nominated 2012: 0

Music, original score (Number of Men Nominated: 4)


Number of women nominated 2014: 6


Number of women nominated 2013: 0


Number of women nominated 2012: 0

Sound Mixing (Number of Men Nominated: 13)


Number of women nominated 2014: 16


Number of women nominated 2013: 0


Number of women nominated 2012: 1

Visual Effects (Number of Men Nominated: 20)


Number of women nominated 2014: 0


Number of women nominated 2013: 0


Number of women nominated 2012: 0

Academy Award Categories with Exactly 1 Woman Nominated

Film Editing (Number of Men Nominated: 5)


Number of women nominated 2014: 9


Number of women nominated 2013: 0


Number of women nominated 2012: 2

Sound Editing (Number of Men Nominated: 8)


Number of women nominated 2014: 6


Number of women nominated 2013: 1


Number of women nominated 2012: 0

Animated Feature Film (Number of Men Nominated: 11)


Number of women nominated 2014: 2


Number of women nominated 2013: 1


Number of women nominated 2012: 1

Academy Award Categories with 2 or More Women Nominated

Best Picture: 6 women nominated, 22 men


Documentary, feature: 4 women nominated, 8 men


Documentary, short subject: 3 women nominated, 4 men


Short Film, animated: 3 women nominated, 5 men


Short Film, live action: 2 women nominated, 8 men


Music, original song: 2 women nominated, 6 men


Production Design: 5 women nominated, 4 men


Costume Design: 5 women nominated, 1 men


Makeup & Hairstyling: 2 women nominated, 4 men

The Women’s Media Center works to make women visible and powerful in media. The Women’s Media Center trains women leaders to be in the media; promotes women experts to the media through WMC SheSource; conducts groundbreaking research and reporting on media inclusion and accuracy; features women’s voices and stories on our radio program Women’s Media Center Live with Robin Morgan and through WMC Features on our website; produces media style guides, such as the first ever to cover reproductive issues and our guide on gender neutral coverage of women candidates and public leaders; documents and reports sexualized violence as a tool of war in Syria and other conflict regions through its WMC Women Under Siege project. Its publication,  Status of Women in U.S. Media Report, is now the industry standard on where women stand, and serves as a map to where women need to go. Follow us on Twitter using #StatusWomen.

For more information, contact Cristal Williams Chancellor, cristal@womensmediacenter.com, 202-587-1636