In 2023, women had fewer leading roles in the cinema

Actress Salma Hayek Pinault starred in "Magic Mike: Last Dance" in 2023 as Maxandra Mendoza. Image: AFP Photo / Anne-Christine Poujoulat©

In the cinema, the leading role goes to a man in an increasing number of cases. A new study from the University of Southern California's School of Journalism, USC Annenberg, reveals that women and girls accounted for just 30% of lead roles in major films in 2023, marking a 14 percentage point drop on the previous year.

Inequalities between men and women persist even on screen. According to the annual "USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative" study by the University of Southern California's School of Journalism, which analyzed 1,700 films, only 31.7% of the 5,084 speaking characters in the top-grossing films from 2007-2023 were women or girls. The vast majority were cisgender men (68.2%), compared with less than 1% non-binary.  

And if this finding isn't depressing enough, the results for 2023 are even more worrying, as the representation of women is the lowest recorded since 2007, the year the USC study was launched. The survey shows a significant drop in female lead roles, down 14 percentage points from 44% in 2022. 

Globally the percentage of women in key roles on screen has not changed significantly in recent years. While in 2023, women accounted for 31.7% of speaking roles, in 2022 they accounted for 34.6% and 29.9% in 2007.

Only 11% of the 100 most popular films of 2023 were gender-balanced, with female representation of at least 45% to as much as 54.9%. This percentage is similar to that of 2022 (15%) and 2007 (12%). 

Gender, age, ethnicity

In addition to their gender, actresses of color suffer even more from this on-screen discrimination. According to the report, only 14% of the 100 most popular films of 2023 had women from underrepresented racial/ ethnic groups as protagonists or co-protagonists. This is 4 percentage points lower than the figure for 2022 (18%), although still higher than the 2007 figure of just 1%.

Then there's the weight of age. Unlike men, actresses are victims of ageism. Only 3% of films in 2023 featured women aged 45 or over in leading roles, a significant drop on 2022 (10%) but similar to the proportion in 2007 (1%). "Women (46.4%) were more likely to be shown as parents than were men (40.8%) across the 100 top films of 2023. In terms of women caregivers, 2023 was not different from 2022 (43.8%) or 2007 (50%)," the researchers explained.

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Actresses who are both over 45 and an ethnic minority get even less representation. In 2023, only one of the 100 most popular films featured a woman over 45 of an underrepresented ethnic group with Salma Hayek as lead actor. In 2022, the percentage was 5%, compared with 0% in 2007. "In terms of age, women represent less than a quarter (24.8%) of all speaking characters aged 40 or older across the 100 top movies of 2023. The prevalence of women 40 years old or above on screen in 2023 was not different from 2022 (25.8%) or 2007 (25.8%)," reads the study.

The only consolation is that the number of women directors, composers, screenwriters and producers has remained stable compared to last year. Female screenwriters accounted for 15.2% of the top 100 films' screenwriters in 2023, compared with 16.3% in 2022;  female producers 24.4% in 2023, compared with 26.8% in 2022; and female composers 9.4%, compared with 8.2% in 2022. Female directors accounted for 12.1% in 2023 versus 8.8% in 2022.

Actresses also enjoyed a breakthrough in action and animation films, rising from 20% and 20.8% respectively in 2007 to 26.7% and 36.5% in 2023.