By now, we’re aware of the fact that Hollywood is ageist. As Women and Hollywood previously reported, a study released by the Media, Diversity and Social Change Initiative at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism found that only 11 percent of about 4,066 speaking characters in the 100 top U.S. films of 2015 were 60 or older, and only 10 roles considered leads or co-leads were held by actors 60 or older.
But thanks to a new study conducted by Clemson economists Robert Fleck and Andrew Hanssen, we now also know that the age of 40 is an important milestone for both women and men in the industry — but for very different reasons.
As the Washington Post reports, “For both male and female actors, 40 is a critical age. Among male actors, 40 represents the midpoint of their careers — about half of the leading film roles for men go to actors over 40. For women, 40 is a sunset year. When a female actor reaches 40, she loses access to about three-quarters of the leading film roles for women.”
It’s not difficult to notice that most female stars of films these days are under 40 while the men happily work more or even break out at the critical age.
“Fleck and Hanssen looked at IMDb data on domestically produced films from 1920 to 2011,” the piece explains. “The data revealed, first of all, that there has never been gender equality in Hollywood. Men have always gotten more roles than women. For much of history, men took upwards of three-quarters of film roles. Women have made slight gains recently — but men still claim over 66 percent of film acting jobs.”
The study found that the only time that women have an advantage over men is in their 20s, saying, “women in their early 20s have a tremendous edge over men the same age. That advantage diminishes for every year that a female actor ages, though. Among 20-year-old actors, women got 80 percent of the leading roles. By age 30, women only got 40 percent of the leading roles. And past age 40, men claim 80 percent of the leading roles, while women only get 20 percent.”
Essentially, “women have shorter careers that start earlier,” Fleck said.
It’s a sad truth but not an unexpected one. Though the study also reports that things aren’t looking any better year by year, we can only hope that the more this kind of research is revealed, the more people might take notice and incite change.
For the entire report, head over to The Washington Post.
