The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is often criticized for its lack of diversity across the board, but this year the racial spread of nominees is more dynamic. However, women seem to be underrepresented with only 20 percent of the nominations.
The entertainment industry is still extremely skewed by gender, but even so, this year saw a two percent drop in female nominees outside of the acting category.
No female directors were recognized, nor cinematographers, and no women were nominated in the original screenplay category. Allison Schroeder was the only woman recognized for co-writing the script Hidden Fences.
These numbers were shared in a report by The Women’s Media Center, a nonprofit that was started by Jane Fonda, Robin Morgan, and Gloria Steinem to improve the representation fo women.
However, nine women were nominated in the producing category, Mica Levi was the first women to be nominated for original score in 16 years, and Joi McMillan is the first black woman to be nominated for editing.