Women’s Roles In Hollywood Only “Slightly” Increased In 2022

According to the most recent San Diego State report, the percentage of female characters within the top 100 domestic grossing films “slightly” increased to 33% compared to 2021’s 31% (Deadline). Overall, women grew 3% when accounting for significant roles and characters played in films, which resulted in 38% of the roles falling to women in 2022. Additionally, women’s speaking roles were up to 28% – signaling a new record. While the new high is exciting, it should be noted that only 11 of the 100 films featured more women roles when compared to men.

Concerning color, although Latina and Asian roles for women dropped when compared to 2021, Black female roles increased. In 2022, Black roles for women resulted in 21.6%, 7.0% for Latinas, and 6.6% for Asian women. A cause of the decline in the number of Latinas and Asian women can be attributed to the lack of films made with them when compared to the previous year, which had films such as West Side Story, Raya, and the Last Dragon, and In the Heights. Also, in 2022, films like Women King and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever likely increased the roles for Black women.

On age, there still appears to be a trend in Hollywood to cast younger women to play the opposite of older men. According to Deadline, “The report found that the majority of female characters portrayed in the top 100 films were in their 20s and 30s (56%), while the majority of male characters were in their 30s and 40s (59%).”

When giving a possible reason for the lack of women roles, Dr. Martha Lauzen, the author of the report and the founder of and executive director of the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film, states, “Age is not just an employment issue for actors… When female and male characters are relatively young, they are less likely to hold positions of great personal or professional power.” Through such a statement, one can assume that women’s roles are limited because many films want an authoritative or assertive protagonist. With both of these traits having masculine connotations, many women’s roles are associated with stereotypical female passive-leaning female features.