The Oscars Gender Gap

By Rachel Larris | January 15, 2015

The Women’s Media Center today released its 2015 review of the status of women as nominees for non-acting Academy Awards.

Julie Burton, president of the Women’s Media Center stated, “The Women’s Media Center congratulates all Academy Award nominees – it is a great day of recognition for their talent and artistic vision. However, we are concerned that for the fourth year in a row, fewer than one in five of all non-acting nominees are women.”  Burton continued, “The stark disparity in the Oscar nominations this year – particularly in the categories of Directing and Writing – demonstrates that male voices and perspectives are largely responsible for what we see on screen. The Los Angeles Times conducted a study that showed that 94% of Academy voters are white and 77% are male – we wonder if these numbers have something to do with the fact that talented directors like Ava DuVernay (Selma) and Angelina Jolie (Unbroken) did not make the final cut.” 

The Women’s Media Center analysis was conducted by Rachel Larris, communications manager of the Women's Media Center. 

A WMC infographic of the key findings demonstrates that the nominations tilt heavily towards men:

• Across 19 non-acting categories 149 men are nominated versus 35 women.*  
• There are seven Oscar categories with no women nominated (directing, writing—original screenplay, writing—adapted screenplay, cinematography, original score, visual effects, sound mixing).  
• Since 2012, only 19% of all non-acting Oscar nominations have been for women.

Academy Award Categories with No Women Nominated

Directing (Number of Men Nominated: 5) Number of women nominated 2014: 0 Number of women nominated 2013: 0 Number of women nominated 2012: 0    

Writing, original screenplay (Number of Men Nominated: 10) Number of women nominated 2014: 1 Number of women nominated 2013: 0 Number of women nominated 2012: 2

Writing, adapted screenplay (Number of Men Nominated: 5) Number of women nominated 2014: 1 Number of women nominated 2013: 1 Number of women nominated 2012: 1

Cinematography (Number of Men Nominated: 6) Number of women nominated 2014: 0 Number of women nominated 2013: 0 Number of women nominated 2012: 0

Music, original score (Number of Men Nominated: 4) Number of women nominated 2014: 6 Number of women nominated 2013: 0 Number of women nominated 2012: 0

Sound Mixing (Number of Men Nominated: 13) Number of women nominated 2014: 16 Number of women nominated 2013: 0 Number of women nominated 2012: 1

Visual Effects (Number of Men Nominated: 20) Number of women nominated 2014: 0 Number of women nominated 2013: 0 Number of women nominated 2012: 0

Academy Award Categories with Exactly 1 Woman Nominated

Film Editing (Number of Men Nominated: 5) Number of women nominated 2014: 9 Number of women nominated 2013: 0 Number of women nominated 2012: 2

Sound Editing (Number of Men Nominated: 8) Number of women nominated 2014: 6 Number of women nominated 2013: 1 Number of women nominated 2012: 0

Animated Feature Film (Number of Men Nominated: 11) Number of women nominated 2014: 2 Number of women nominated 2013: 1 Number of women nominated 2012: 1

Academy Award Categories with 2 or More Women Nominated

Best Picture: 6 women nominated, 22 men Documentary, feature: 4 women nominated, 8 men Documentary, short subject: 3 women nominated, 4 men Short Film, animated: 3 women nominated, 5 men Short Film, live action: 2 women nominated, 8 men Music, original song: 2 women nominated, 6 men Production Design: 5 women nominated, 4 men Costume Design: 5 women nominated, 1 men Makeup & Hairstyling: 2 women nominated, 4 men

*Tallies include all names listed in 19 non-acting categories. Totals exclude nominees in acting categories and foreign film. 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.