This year’s Oscars will feature zero women nominated for Best Director yet again. This follows a historical two-year run where women won back-to-back Best Director awards.

Sarah Polley, whose film Women Talking was nominated for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay, was perhaps the most notable snub. Other women thought to be on the shortlist for a nomination were Gina Prince-Bythewood, who helmed The Woman King, Charlotte Wells for Aftersun, and Chinonye Chukwu, who directed Till. 

Since the award was first given out in 1927, only seven women have been nominated – of which three have won. In 2010, Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to be given an award for directing The Hurt Locker. However, it would take another eleven years before Chloé Zhao won in 2021 for Nomadland. The following year, Jane Campion won for helming The Power of the Dog. 

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is following in the footsteps of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and the Directors Guild, which did not nominate any women. The lack of recognition by award programs is a symptom of a broader issue of women, LGBTQ people, and people of color being excluded from the industry. While the industry has made strides in recent years, having no women nominated for the top individual award is a significant setback.

The men nominated for the award are Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert for Everything Everywhere All at Once, Ruben Östlund for Triangle of Sadness, Todd Field for Tár, Martin McDonagh for The Banshees of Inisherin, and Steven Spielberg for The Fabelmans.