Oscar is (Almost Always) A Man

Did you know that on average only 16% of the nominees have been women since the awards began? This includes nominees for the “Best Actress” categories. Or did you know that in the 2013 Oscars, to be awarded on March 1, 2014, seven categories had zero female nominees? We explored the data behind the gender gap at the prestigious Academy Awards. See our findings below.

Huge Oscar Gender Gap is Not Shrinking

Over the 86 years of the Academy Awards, several things have remained constant. The Red Carpet. The golden statuette. And the absence of women nominees for the award.

Breakdown by gender of the Oscars’ nominees 1928-2013. Including “Acting” categories.

During the Academy Awards season pictures of actresses monopolize the front pages of websites, magazines, newspapers and TV shows. We discuss their stunning bodies, their designer clothes, their hairstyles, their make-up.

Unfortunately, very few women are actually nominated for an Oscar. In some categories, a woman has never been nominated for an Oscar, and the percentage of female nominees hasn’t varied much for 86 years.

The highest percentage of  female nominees was in 1994, at 26%. And it  immediately dropped to 16% the next year. In fact, 2002, 2004 and 2008 were all near-record low years for female Oscar nominations.

Oscar Winners are Even More Likely to be Male 

The highest percentage of female winners was in 1929. Now the trend is going backwards again. From 2008 through the 2013, fewer women won statuettes than the historical average. The 2011 Oscars recorded only 7% female winners. The lowest percentage of female winners happened in 1947, at 6%. Historically, men when more than their fair share of statuettes even taking into account their overrepresentation. Over the 86 years, men have on average won 86% of the Awards while being nominated on average for 84% of them. Again, the trendline is not encouraging. 

Categories Women Win…And Categories Where They Barely Exist

Women’s presence is remarkably poor in nearly all categories of the Awards (except for gender specific categories that contain the word “Acting”). In some categories their absence is remarkable.

Gender breakdown of the candidates in each of the fields prized at the Academy Awards (1928-2013).

Women are nearly even with men in a few lesser categories. Only in the field ofCostume Design we see woman actually surpassing men. In this category they constitute well 55% of the candidates and 58% of the winners. The second category where women score well is for Make-up. Women make up 32% of the winners. Third place for female presence goes to Documentary awards, where woman have been 24% of the nominees and 23% of the winners: surely not bad compared to the rest of the categories, but still fare from a 50-50 ratio.

To know if things improving or getting worse, let’s have a look at the composition of nominees for this edition.

2014 Oscars: Very Few Women Nominees

Excluding the Acting categories, for the 86th Edition of the Academy Awards  nominees are 17% women and 83% men. there are zero female candidates for 7 out of the 19 categories:

• Best Cinematography
• Best Director
• Best Film Editing
• Best Music (Original Score)
• Best Sound Editing
• Best Sound Mixing
• Best Visual Effects

Gender breakdown of the candidates for the 86th Academy Awards  (Excluding Best Leading Actress, Best Leading Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Supporting Actor).

Read more on The Oskar Database