Many of you may have heard about how there were no female directors nominated for either the Oscars or the Golden Globes. This led me to do some research on my own to learn more about both, as well as women in the film industry. I also wanted to learn about the female directors that people thought should have been nominated, as well as how many women have ever been nominated in the history of both the Golden Globes and the Oscars.

My research showed that the female directors that were left out of the Oscar nominations were Lulu Wang, Greta Gerwig, Marielle Heller, Lorene Scafaria, and Alma Har’el. Additionally, Lulu Wang, Greta Gerwig, and Lorene Scafaria were also left out of the Golden Globes nominations. As I read more articles about what happened I learned more about the directors. For instance, Greta Gerwig was nominated for an Oscar before and if she had gotten nominated again she would have been the first woman to have gotten nominated twice for best director. If Wang was nominated she would have been the first Asian woman to be nominated for directing. In all honesty, this information surprised me because even though I suspected that the film industry would be hard for women to break into, I never knew the severity of the matter. Additionally, this isn’t the first year women have been excluded from being nominated at the Golden Globes, and that two years ago there were only male nominees for the Golden Globes. But, one of the most shocking pieces of information I learned is that only five women had been nominated for directing in the Oscars and on top of that only one woman, Kathryn Bigelow, has ever won in the best director category for the Oscars. The Golden Globes are no better as it too has only ever had five women nominees for directing and only one woman, Barbara Streisand, has ever won.

Natalie Portman is one celebrity that has continued to make remarks regarding all-male nominees for best director. This year, she wore a cape with all the female directors who didn’t get recognized on the red carpet at the Oscars. And, remember how I mentioned earlier that this has all happened before two years ago? Well, Natalie Portman, the presenter for the Golden Globes, specifically mentioned how they were only male nominees. After Natalie Portman criticized how there were only male nominees in 2018, Greta Gerwig was nominated in that category for Ladybird.

Now, you may be asking yourself how many of the most popular movies were directed by women, well studies show that in 2019 around 10% of the top-grossing (earned the most money) movies were directed by women. This is the highest percentage in 13 years, and in 2018 it was only 4.5 percent. While there was an increase in female directors, there was also a drop in female directors that were from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups. Something even more astounding is that in the last 13 years less than 1 percent of directors were women of color.
Women continue to make progress when entering into male-dominated fields, though it doesn’t mean that the change will happen immediately. I also know that there is also no reasonable explanation as to why there weren’t female nominees this year. But, the women who are trailblazing now are helping to pave the way for future generations of young girls. Society as a whole could do a lot better with recognizing women’s achievements, which is why it’s so important to talk about these issues because we need to recognize these problems and address them as a community.

Sites
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/no-women-nominated-best-director-at-2020-oscars-1268599
Golden Globes Once Again Nominate Only Male Directors
Backlash Grows as Oscars Snub Women Directors Yet Again
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2019-12-09/golden-globes-nominations-2020-female-directors
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/davidmack/oscars-natalie-portman-red-carpet-cape-women-directors
https://ew.com/golden-globes/2019/12/09/golden-globes-2020-nominations-no-women-best-director/
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/natalie-portman-oscars-2020-dress-sexism