2014 Statistics

Women Onscreen

Top 100 grossing films:

Women represented 30% of all speaking characters, 29% of major characters, 12% of protagonists, and 13% of leaders.
Male characters were more likely than females to be identified only by a work related role (61% of males vs. 34% of females).
Female characters were more likely than males to be identified only by a personal life-related role (58% of females vs. 31% of males).
The majority of women are in their 20s and 30s, while men are in their 30s and 40s.
Males over 40 made up 53% of all male characters, while females over 40 made up 30% of all female characters.
74% of female characters were white. 11% were black, 4% were Latina, 4% were Asian, 3% were otherworldly, and 4% were of another race or ethnicity.

Top 100 grossing films, 2007-2014:

Females represented just 30.2% of all speaking characters (2011 excluded).
No female actors over 45 years of age were in a lead/co-lead role.
Only three of the female actors in lead/co-lead roles were from underrepresented racial/ethnic backgrounds.
No female leads/co-leads were lesbian or bisexual characters.
Less than a quarter of all speaking characters in the top animated films were female. Only 21.8% of speaking characters in action/adventure films were female.
Females of all ages were more likely than males to be shown in sexy attire (27.9% of females vs. 8% of males), with some nudity (26.4% of females vs. 9.1% of males), or referenced as physically attractive (12.6% of females vs. 3.1% of males).
Female teens (13‐20 year olds) were just as likely to be sexualized as young adult females (21‐39 year olds). Middle‐aged females (40‐64 year olds) were less likely to be sexualized.
Only 11% of the films were gender-balanced.
21 films in 2014 had a female lead/co-lead. Only three of the leads/co-leads were played by underrepresented female actors.

Top 250 grossing films:

Women were 17% of the directors, executive producers, producers, writers, cinematographers, and editors.
Women directed 7% of the films.
Women wrote 11% of the movies.
Women comprised 19% of all executive producers.
Women accounted for 23% of all producers.
Women comprised 18% of all editors.
Women accounted for 5% of all cinematographers.
Women comprised 1% of all composers.
Women comprised 5% of sound designers.
Women accounted for 5% of all supervising sound editors.

Top 100 grossing films:

Women comprised only 15.8% of directors, writers, and producers.
Women only accounted for 1.9% of directors, 11.2% of writers, and 18.9% of producers.
Only two women directed across the 100 top films.

2009-2014 Women Directors in the Studio System: