Only 16 percent are female directors: the film industry remains male-dominated

Hollywood is not poor in women, but the film industry has always been considered a male domain – at least behind the camera. And shockingly little has changed in recent years. Even today, female directors are greatly underrepresented among the most successful US films and are still the exception.

According to a study by the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University, only 16 percent of the directors of the 250 highest-grossing films of 2024 were women – the same number as last year. If you look at the 100 highest-grossing films, only 11 percent were directed by women, which is three percentage points less than in 2023.

The author of the study and director of the Tenrum, Martha Lauzen, pointed to the achievements of filmmakers such as Coralie Fargeat (“The Substance”) or Halina Reijn (“Babygirl”), but at the same time lamented the state of an industry that is failing to promote Female directors haven’t come very far yet.

“The overwhelming successes that prominent women have achieved in recent years – including Greta Gerwig, Jane Campion and Chloé Zhao – have not translated into opportunities for a larger number of women,” Variety quotes Lauzen as saying. “Visibility for a few has not translated into employment for many.”

Under the title “Celluloid Ceiling,” Lauzen has examined the employment of women in the film industry over the past 27 years. In 2024 she examined 3,300 films. The result: Men were overrepresented when filling many key roles on film sets, although women were able to make gains in certain areas.

In 2024, the proportion of women as cinematographers, screenwriters and producers increased. In the top 250 films of the year, women made up 12 percent of all cinematographers, an increase of 5 percent. They also made up 20 percent of writers (up 3 percent) and 27 percent of producers (up 1 percent). However, the proportion of women as composers, cutters or executive producers fell last year.

A particularly shocking number: 70 percent of films had ten or more men in key behind-the-scenes positions, while only 8 percent employed ten or more women. Whether a film is directed by a woman or a man makes a big difference: female directors were significantly more likely to employ other women in key positions.

The underrepresentation of women in the film industry has always been evident at the Academy Awards: In the 96-year history of the award ceremony, women have only been nominated for “Best Director” eight times. It wasn’t until 2009 that a woman (Kathryn Bigelow for “The Hurt Locker”) received the Oscar in this category for the first time. Since then there have only been two other winners: Chloé Zhao in 2020 for “Nomadland” and Jane Campion in 2021 for “The Power of the Dog”.