Why men win more Oscars than women

April 23, 2021

“The Oscar goes to… ” — in purely statistical terms, the name that follows will be a man’s. After all, 68% of the contenders for the prestigious trophy are male, which means that in 2021, men will receive the majority of Oscars. The good news is that the percentage of women nominated for an award is on the rise: 28.5% last year compared to 32% this year, according to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Two female directors are in the running, too: Chloe Zhao and Emerald Fennell. The fact that two women have been nominated in the Best Director category for the first time this year is considered a sensation.

Since the first awards ceremony in 1929, only five women were nominated for that prize altogether, and only one took it home: Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker (2009). After a total of 92 award ceremonies, that makes for a male-to-female ratio of 92:1. Coincidence? Bigelow’s war film stars many men in stereotypical male roles.

First female nominees for best director

The best director category is symbolic: no other job on the set is as important or powerful. However, it is not only in the film industry that seems to find it difficult to trust women with leadership roles.

Filming Nomadland, director Chloe Zhao with actress Frances McDormand on set

‘Nomadland’ director Chloe Zhao with actress Frances McDormand on set

In 2019 when Greta Gerwig’s highly acclaimed Little Women hit the screen. At the following Academy Awards, the coming-of-age film about four sisters was nominated in six categories, including best film — but not for best director.

Many women used #OscarsSoMale on Twitter to vent their anger about the glaring gender gap. At the ceremony, actor Natalie Portman walked the red carpet in a gown embroidered in gold with the names of the women she felt deserved an Oscar, including director Gerwig.

Powerful movements

The new female self-confidence emerged after one of the biggest scandals in Hollywood history. In 2017, more than 100 women publicly testified against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, triggering the worldwide #MeToo movement. It was an open secret that the powerful US film producer had a preference for young actresses, but everyone remained silent. In February 2020, Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison for rape and sexual assault.

Time’s Up is the name of an initiative launched in 2018 by more than 300 female filmmakers, actors and producers. Founded as legal support for sexually harassed female colleagues, Time’s Up has long since advanced to one of the most important lobby organizations for gender justice in the film industry.

Oscar 2021 nominations by gender and category

The film industry has clearly been shaken up, and even the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which has been criticized for the past few years, is taking a new approach. Its members traditionally nominate the Oscar winners— an award given by colleagues to colleagues. Only those who have previously been nominated, or who are nominated by two members, may become members. That is how the elitist, white, old men’s club worked for decades. But change is in the air. For the past five years, the academy has been aggressively inviting new members, half of whom are women. As a result, their share of the approximately 9,000-member film family has now risen to 32%, up from 25% in 2015.

Female directors ‘part of the solution’

“What we see on screen and what we see in the world do not match,” Stacy Smith, expert on inequality in the entertainment industry, said in a TED talk about gender inequality in a film entitled The Data Behind Hollywood’s Sexism. TED is a nonpartisan nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short talks. The researcher, activist and professor of communication at the University of South California has been providing scientific facts about the gender gap for years via the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative (AII) that she founded, a think tank that studies diversity and inclusion in entertainment. For the annual statistics, AII catalogues films for gender distribution. In 2019, for instance, only 34% of all roles were played by women.

Smith calls it the “epidemic of invisibility.”

The proportion has only changed by a few percentage points over the decades. The numbers are similar concerning film reception: two out of three US film reviews are written by men, says Los Angeles-based Women in Film (WIF), an organization that advocates and advances the careers of women working in the screen industries.

To change the prevailing pattern, Stacy Smith advocates simply hiring more female directors. “Female directors are associated with, in terms of short films and indie films, more girls and women on screen, more stories with women in the center, more stories with women 40 years and older on the screen, more underrated characters in terms of race and ethnicity and most importantly, more women working behind the camera in key production roles.”

The technical-creative field in particular continues to be in male hands, she added. In the 92-year Oscar history, only one woman has been nominated for Best Cinematography, and four in the Visual Effects category.

If the Oscars reflect classic gender stereotypes, does that mean women have an edge in “typically female” categories like costume design or makeup? This year, they do: far more women have been nominated in both categories. A look at the past, however, shows more women may have been nominated in costume design with a ratio of 302:221 — but men dominate makeup and hairstyling with 168:108.

Thanks to the ongoing pandemic?

So how did two female contenders get nominated for Best Director? Some observers say that was simply due to the coronavirus pandemic. The release dates of blockbusters with Oscar all-stars like Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story, Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel and Wes Andersen’s The French Dispatch have been postponed because of the crisis, leaving more room for smaller low-budget films that launched via streaming rather than in movie theaters.

As the major studios and their gender-conservative films are taking a year off, 2021 opens up a surprisingly female perspective. Chloe Zhao not only directed the favorite Nomadland, she also wrote the screenplay and edited the film. The film was produced by Frances McDormand, who also plays the lead role.

Whether two women would have been nominated for Best Director without the special circumstances of the coronavirus pandemic, i.e. strong competition from blockbusters, is speculative. It is a fact, however, that the attention they and the smaller films will be getting at the 93rd Oscars award ceremony will make Oscar history.

‘Nomadland’ wins big at 2021 Golden Globes

A digital event

So near and yet so far: Comedians Tina Fey and Amy Poehler hosted the 78th Golden Globes from across the US. Fey was in front of the camera in New York, while Poehler co-hosted from Los Angeles. All award winners were digitally connected from their living rooms or hotels.

‘Nomadland’ wins big at 2021 Golden Globes

Best drama film

“Nomadland,” starring Oscar-winner Frances McDormand, won the award for best drama. The film is a modern road trip story, exploring the lives of modern nomads living out of RVs and vans in the US. It’s one of the few movies that was made for the theaters. Its director, Chloe Zhao, became the first woman of Asian descent to win best director.

‘Nomadland’ wins big at 2021 Golden Globes

Best comedy film

The top comedy film winner was the Amazon production “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.” In it, British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen slipped into the role of Kazakh journalist Borat for the second time, holding a mirror to US society. In addition to the award for best comedy, Cohen also won best actor in a comedy.

‘Nomadland’ wins big at 2021 Golden Globes

Best film director

Director Chloe Zhao received the Golden Globes award for the best film director category for her work on “Nomadland.” In doing so, she became only the second woman to win a Golden Globe in this category, 37 years after the award went to Barbra Streisand for “Yentl.” Zhao’s film had won the Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival in 2020.

‘Nomadland’ wins big at 2021 Golden Globes

Best screenplay

Is there still room in the trophy case of Emmy and Oscar-winning screenwriter and director Aaron Sorkin? Sorkin (left) won the Golden Globe for best screenplay for the film “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” about a lawsuit against pacifists who demonstrated against the Vietnam War in 1968. In it, comedian Sacha Baron Cohen (right) plays a serious role, and was also rewarded with a nomination.

‘Nomadland’ wins big at 2021 Golden Globes

Best actress in a drama film

In a sense, soul singer Andra Day (center) had already won big: She was discovered by Stevie Wonder and has received Grammy nominations for her music. In 2017, she covered a song by jazz legend Billie Holiday, making her the perfect choice to embody the legendary singer in the biopic “The United States vs. Billie Holiday.” She won the Golden Globe for best actress in a drama.

‘Nomadland’ wins big at 2021 Golden Globes

Best actor in a drama film

The award for Best Actor in a drama film provided one of the evening’s most touching moments: Taylor Simone Ledward (right) accepted the award on behalf of her late-husband Chadwick Boseman, who died of cancer last year at age 43. Boseman played the role of Levee Green, a trumpeter in blues singer in “Ma” Rainey’s band, in the Netflix jazz drama “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.”

‘Nomadland’ wins big at 2021 Golden Globes

Best actress in a musical or comedy film

In the dark comedy “I Care a Lot,” Rosamund Pike (left) plays Marla Grayson, a court-appointed guardian who preys on wealthy seniors and has built up a network of doctors and nursing homes that help her — until she meets her match. Pike won her first Golden Globe for best actress in a comedy.

‘Nomadland’ wins big at 2021 Golden Globes

Best actress in a supporting role

As in the directing and screenplay categories, the awards for best supporting roles are not divided into drama and comedy. For her portrayal of lawyer Nancy Hollander in “The Mauritanian,” Jodie Foster was honored with a Golden Globe. The film is based on the Guantanamo diary of long-time prisoner Mohamedou Ould Slahi. The young German star Helena Zengel went away empty-handed.

‘Nomadland’ wins big at 2021 Golden Globes

Best actor in a supporting role

With the surprise success of the 2018 “Get Out,” Daniel Kaluuya became a familiar name in Hollywood. For his role as civil rights activist and Black Panther member Fred Hampton in “Judas and the Black Messiah,” Kaluuya received the award for best supporting actor. Hampton was shot by police officers in his sleep in 1969.

‘Nomadland’ wins big at 2021 Golden Globes

Best foreign language film

The film “Minari,” directed by Lee Isaac Chung, tells the story of a Korean family trying to start a new life farming in rural Arkansas in the 1980s. The film is based on Chung’s own childhood, and won the Golden Globe for best foreign language film, although it is a US production.

‘Nomadland’ wins big at 2021 Golden Globes

Best animated film

The Disney production “Soul” won the award for best animated film. It tells the story of a musician whose soul becomes detached from his body. It is the first film by animation company Pixar to feature an African-American protagonist; Jamie Foxx voices the lead role of jazz pianist Joe Gardner. The film also won a Golden Globe for best film score.

‘Nomadland’ wins big at 2021 Golden Globes

Best limited series

Netflix productions garnered a whopping 42 nominations this year. One of the winners was the series “The Queen’s Gambit,” which won best limited series. It tells the story of ambitious chess genius Beth Harmon, who aims to become chess world champion in the male-dominated sport in the 1950s. Lead actress Anya-Taylor Joy also received the award for best actress in a limited series.

‘Nomadland’ wins big at 2021 Golden Globes

Best TV drama

One of the big winners of the evening was Netflix series “The Crown,” a historical fiction based on the lives of the British royal family. In addition to taking home the award for best TV drama, Emma Corrin won best actress in a TV drama series for her role as Lady Di — beating out castmate Olivia Colman, who plays Queen Elizabeth II. Josh O’Connor, who plays Prince Charles, also won best actor.

‘Nomadland’ wins big at 2021 Golden Globes

Best TV comedy

At the 2020 Emmy Awards, the comedy series “Schitt’s Creek” won prizes in all major categories. Now series creator Eugene Levy (right) can also add a Golden Globe to his shelf. The series tells the story of a wealthy family who lose their fortune and move to the small town of Schitt’s Creek.

‘Nomadland’ wins big at 2021 Golden Globes

An award for her life’s work

The Cecil B. DeMille Award is an honorary Golden Globe presented by the association for lifetime achievement. This year it went to actress and Oscar winner Jane Fonda, whose speech underscored the lack of diversity and inclusion in Hollywood. This came in light of the revelation that the Golden Globes awarding body had no Black members.

Author: Torsten Landsberg