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 percent of speaking roles, in 2022 they accounted for 34.6 percent and 29.9 percent in 2007
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. Â
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.Â
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%).Â