Number of women Oscar nominees remains low

The nominees for the 86th Academy Awards were announced this morning and as we have for the past two years the Women’s Media Center looked at the number of women who were nominated for awards across all non-performance categories. *

The numbers have remained consistent with last year’s nominees. Across 19 categories 156 men were nominated for awards versus 33 women. There are seven categories this year that do not have a single woman nominated. Those categories include the awards for Directing, Cinematography, Film Editing and Music (Original Score) which had no women nominees last year as well.

In the writing awards there are two women nominated, Julie Delpy for Adapted Screenplay and Melisa Wallack for Original Screenplay. However 13 men are nominated across both of the two writing awards categories – including Delpy’s and Wallack’s writing partners.

While the Academy Awards is only a snapshot of the industry’s most prestigious products these numbers would fit with the latest figures from The Celluloid Ceiling: an annual analysis of the top 250 Films of 2013. Martha M. Lauzen, executive director of Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film found that in 2013 women comprised of only 16 of the individuals working in key behind-the-scenes roles on the top 250 grossing films.

Academy Award Categories with No Women Nominated

Directing (Number of Men Nominated: 5)
Number of women nominated last year: 0
Number of women nominated 2012: 0    

Cinematography (Number of Men Nominated: 5)
Number of women nominated last year: 0
Number of women nominated 2012: 0

Film Editing (Number of Men Nominated: 9)
Number of women nominated last year: 0
Number of women nominated 2012: 2

Music, original score (Number of Men Nominated: 6)
Number of women nominated last year: 0
Number of women nominated 2012: 0

Sound Editing (Number of Men Nominated: 6)
Number of women nominated last year: 1
Number of women nominated 2012: 0

Sound Mixing (Number of Men Nominated: 16)
Number of women nominated last year: 0
Number of women nominated 2012: 1

Visual Effects (Number of Men Nominated: 20)
Number of women nominated last year: 0
Number of women nominated 2012: 0

Academy Award Categories with Exactly 1 Woman Nominated

Writing, original screenplay (Number of Men Nominated: 6)
Number of women nominated last year: 0
Number of women nominated 2012: 2

Writing, adapted screenplay (Number of Men Nominated: 7)
Number of women nominated last year: 1
Number of women nominated 2012: 1

Documentary, short subject (Number of Men Nominated: 5)
Number of women nominated last year: 5
Number of women nominated 2012: 7

Academy Award Categories with 2 or More Women Nominated

Best Picture: 5 women nominated, 18 men
Documentary, feature: 3 women nominated, 5 men
Animated Feature Film: 2 women nominated, 11 men
Music, original song: 2 women nominated, 9 men
Short Film, animated: 2 women nominated, 7 men
Short Film, live action: 2 women nominated, 7 men
Production Design: 7 women nominated, 4 men
Costume Design: 2 women nominated, 3 men
Makeup & Hairstyling: 3 women nominated, 2 men

*Counts include all names mentioned in an awards category, including multiple people nominated as part of a team. If an individual was named twice in the same award category they were only counted once.