Hollywood’s Gender Representation Under Scrutiny

The Annenberg Inclusion Initiative has taken a critical look at Hollywood, revealing that only one-third of the top films in 2025 were cast by women.

Dr. Stacey L. Smith, who authored the study, analyzed the leading films from 2017 to 2025. She found that women have consistently occupied around a third of the leading roles in these films. For instance, in 2023, women held 31.7% of speaking parts, rising to 33.6% in 2024. The peak was in 2022, where 34.6% of roles were female, as reported.

“Nineteen years of data shows potential for change, but it’s also clear how fragile that progress is,” Smith commented in her introduction. “This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a regression after significant gains. As the industry looks to its future, inclusivity should be a guiding principle rather than a casualty during cutbacks. The real question now is whether change will happen.”

Women had the most significant representation in comedies, with 38.7% of roles, while animated films saw only 28.6% of speaking parts for women. In action films, women’s speaking roles were recorded at 30.4%, according to Smith.

“Although we’re seeing some progress for women on-screen, it’s moving at a snail’s pace. Each year brings familiar patterns,” Smith noted. “While incremental improvements are essential for real change, after nearly 20 years of research and advocacy from various organizations, it’s evident the industry prefers to wait for change rather than actively seek solutions.”

Additionally, there continues to be a lack of female directors, producers, and screenwriters, as reported by Smith.

Since 2007, women have made up about 7% of directors. The presence of female composers has seen a slight rise from 0% to 8.5% by 2025. Female screenwriters and producers have also seen increases, reaching 16% and 24.4%, respectively, last year.

Smith indicated that in 2025, racially, ethnically, or underrepresented characters are projected to reach “proportional representation,” hitting 41.5% of speaking and named roles. The count of white characters has also dropped by 19.1%. However, characters with disabilities remained stagnant at 2.8%.

Despite this progress, there were still 30 films lacking any Black characters, 46 without Hispanic/Latino roles, and 26 that did not feature any Asian characters.

Furthermore, LGBTQ+ roles saw no increase, remaining at a mere 1%, with no transgender characters represented.