Study: Female Directors Few and Far Between In ‘Inclusive’ Film Industry

Only seven percent of Hollywood’s top films were directed by women in 2014, a new study by San Diego State University’s Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film reveals.

According to new data, as reported by The Wrap, women in Hollywood continue to be vastly outnumbered by their male counterparts, despite the entertainment industry’s touting of diversity.

The study, named the “Celluloid Ceiling,” by the university states that women comprise of only 17% of writers, directors, executive producers, producers, editors, and cinematographers who worked on the top 250 domestic grossing films of 2014.

Although this is a one-percent jump from the the results of the previous year’s study, the 17% remains the same percentage of women who assumed the same roles in 1998, which was the first year the Celluloid Ceiling was conducted.

“The findings drive home the point that men continue to construct the vast majority of the visual and aural worlds featured in U.S. films,” said Dr. Martha Lauzen, executive director of the Center for the study of Women in Television and Film at SDSU.

The study showed that women accounted for only 7% of all directors that worked in the top films of last year, which is down 2 percentage points from 1998.

In 2014, women made up 19% of executive producers, 23% of producers, 11% of writers, 18% of editors, and 5% of cinematographers.

This marks the first time the study has accounted for women working as sound designers, composers, and supervising sound editors, meaning those numbers have no comparable data.

A recent DGA study from 2009-2014 also reveals that only 18% of first-time directors with episodic TV projects were female.

The new figures come on the heels a Golden Globe awards ceremony on Sunday, which was largely dominated by female entertainers.

Four out of the five shows nominated for best series, Comedy or Musical category, all had female nominees.