Two women have been added to the brain trust for the planned expansion of the “Transformers” franchise. Christina Hodson and Lindsey Beer are the first female writers to join the group.

Assembled to generate ideas for Paramount’s “Transformers” prequels, sequels, and spinoffs, the group is, in effect, the equivalent of a television writers room. Members will then pen the scripts for the projects.

Many outlets are reporting the addition of Hodson and Beer as a gamechanger. A Deadline headline, for example, declared “No boys club in ‘Transformers’ writers’ room.” But what’s being heralded as a big, bold step in the right direction isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be.

Hodson and Beer join fellow “Transformers” writers Robert Kirkman, Zak Penn, Jeff Pinkner, Art Marcum, Matt Holloway, Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari. That means the room will be comprised of two women and seven men. Are we really supposed to congratulate Paramount for hiring a task force that’s only 22% female? You know Hollywood is in a sad state of affairs on the gender-equality front when news about a small minority of women writers being hired is greeted with such desperate enthusiasm. Let’s hope that Hodson and Beer, along with the rest of the writing group, can finally introduce an interesting female character to the franchise.

On a brighter note, Hodson and Beer have considerably more interesting-sounding projects lined up wholly unaffiliated with Michael Bay. Hodson was recently hired by Warner Bros. to pen a new “Fugitive” movie. Her Black List script “Shut In,” a psychological thriller starring Naomi Watts, is set for release in February 2016. Beer wrote “Dig,” an upcoming live-action Disney adventure story, and has been working on a reimagining of “The Wizard of Oz.”

[via Comic Book Resources]