We have to take our victories. Granted, there is still so much to do, but yesterday was a monumental step forward. In case you haven’t heard, The Academy, which has come under incredible scrutiny over that last couple of years due to the lack of diversity in its acting nominees, among many other issues, announced that it has tapped a total of 683 new members. This is an increase from 322 last year.

This class is way more diverse than in the past. 46 percent of the class are women, and 41 percent are people of color. And while those numbers are eye-popping, the fact is that the number of women will only increase from 25 percent to 27 percent, and the number of people of color will just increase from eight percent to 11 percent. This shows just how far this august body still needs to go.

The Academy has always been old-school Hollywood. It was the place where the people in the club surrounded themselves with other people in the club. They called themselves the elite, the best of the best. But we know that in an industry where the best of the best was decided by the palest of the males, this elitism was tainted.

And the taint started to smell really bad over the last couple of years and people began to push back in a vocal manner. You have to give credit to both Cheryl Boone Isaacs, the first woman of color to run the Academy, for leading the way towards change with Dawn Hudson, the CEO. It couldn’t have been easy. But the time has come. This is a moment where people are beginning to understand the stakes of history and legacy, and the film industry, which has become so global (71 cents of every dollar the studios make is made outside the U.S.), needed to get with the program.

While there has already been criticism that some people have not yet paid their dues, or others are more known for theater or TV, to me, that is not the point. Even if you are known better in another medium, that is no reason not to be welcomed into the Academy if you fulfill the requirements, which are different for each branch. Here are the rules.

Remember, if we continue to judge people on the types of films they appear in or the types of films they direct as somewhat not “Academy worthy” we go back to the same argument which is, what is “Academy worthy” and who decides?

There were significant changes in many branches, including music which added 11 women after last year only welcoming its first female member. Cinematography, which has never even nominated a woman, added 11.

But I want to dive a bit deeper into the significant changes to the directing branch which everyone should now realize has been irrevocably changed. For years, I have kept a list of the women in the directing branch. Two days ago there were 408 people in the branch with 39 women members. (Please keep in mind that this list is not 100 percent perfect). The Academy yesterday added 52 women. They more than doubled the amount of women that were in the branch. Do you know what this could mean for nominations?

During awards season, it’s hard for women-directed films to rise above the din. Part of the issue is that there is less investment in them. Part of it is that the mostly male branch has nominated just four women in the life of the Academy. Let me say that again: just four women have ever been nominated for an Academy Award for best director. Women directors have won for their foreign language films, docs, shorts, animation etc., but in the directing branch women have been virtually shut out.

Just think about this: “Selma” coming out this year with 25 percent of the branch being women rather than 10 percent. Would we have seen a different outcome in the nominees? I know that is a hypothetical. But still, think about it.

Women directors for decades have been given such a shaft by the Academy. They haven’t been deemed important enough, or good enough.

That ended yesterday.

You can see the complete new class over at Entertainment Weekly.