New Study Reveals Gender Disparity At The Oscars

When we consider from an equality point of view, an actor is an actor, irrespective of his or her gender. However, a new study reveals the staggering inequality at the Oscars when it comes to women.

The study reveals that the number of women nominees is lesser than their male counterparts. An analysis by the Women’s Media Centre has revealed women have only 23% of nominations for all 19 non-acting categories. The non-acting category features writing, editing, producing and directing roles. The percentage of women barely inched to 20% in the director and cinematography nominations whereas, on the other hand, men comprise 80% of the category.

Cristal Williams Chancellor, director of communications at The Women’s Media Centre, shared the statistics when she visited Kolkata on Monday (July 30). This was her maiden visit to the country. The centre was founded in by Gloria Steinem, Jane Fonda and Robin Morgan in 2005.

Also: Need to end gender disparity: Sophie Gregoire Trudeau

According to Cristal, this disparity is a result of women not being allowed entry into fields traditionally reserved for men. Also, women are pushed out during the nomination process which brings in such disparity.

“There is an inherent sexism that women are fighting. Despite ‘Wonder Woman’ being so successful at the box-office, it still didn’t get a single Oscar nomination,” she said.

According to the findings of the study, men outnumber women in every category except costume design. That is the only category which exhibits an equal representation of men and women.

Also: Rachel Morrison: First Woman Cinematographer to bag Oscar Nomination

Greta Gerwig was the only female nominee in the Best Director category this year. There have been only five women nominated in the context of the best-director category in the Academy's 90 years of history. Kathryn Bigelow remains the only winner who won for ‘The Hurt Locker’ in 2010

Only 17% of women represented in the editing category. Only one woman, Tatiana S Riegel, being nominated this year for ‘I, Tonya’. Writing (original screenplay) marked an improvement from the previous year. While there were no nominees in this category in 2017, in 2018, there were three nominations.

Is this the sexist point of view which brings this kind of disparity? Despite the women working hard to have a greater representation, they are striving to find space at such a platform as the Oscars. It's high time the tables turned in favour of women.

Also Read: Why Indian Entries Fail to Make the Cut at the Oscars?

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Deepali Is An Intern With SheThePeople.TV