Though 40% of this year’s candidates to join the Academy’s Board of Governors were women, female membership increased by only 6% after ballots were tallied.
The 51-member Board — made up of three members from each of the Academy’s 17 Branches — took a small step toward gender equality via a net gain of three women, which increased female membership from 27% (14 women) last year to 33% (17 women) this year. (A runoff election will take place in the Writers Branch between two male candidates.)
Elected for the first time to the Board this year are Rory Kennedy in the Documentary Branch and Lois Burwell in the Makeup Artists and Hairstylists Branch. Challengers Ava DuVernay, Kimberley Peirce and Lisa Cholodenko lost out to incumbent Michael Mann in the Directors Branch.
The Board of Governors directs the Academy’s strategic vision, preserves the organization’s financial health and assures the fulfillment of its mission.
Here are the 17 women Governors of the Academy’s 2016–2016 Board:
Kate Amend (Documentary)
Annette Bening (Actors)
Kathryn Bigelow (Directors)
Kathryn L. Blondell (Makeup Artists and Hairstylists)
Lois Burwell (Makeup Artists and Hairstylists)
Cheryl Boone Isaacs (Public Relations)
Rory Kennedy (Documentary)
Lora Kennedy (Casting Directors)
Kathleen Kennedy (Producers)
Lynzee Klingman (Film Editors)
Carol Littleton (Film Editors)
Judianna Makovsky (Costume Designers)
Deborah Nadoolman Landis (Costume Designers)
Amy Pascal (Executives)
Jan Pascale (Designers)
Robin Swicord (Writers)
Nancy Utley (Public Relations)
[via Oscars.org, Thompson on Hollywood]