Shock Study Finds Women Direct Just 6.4% Of Hollywood Movies

A shocking new report has found that only 6.4% of Hollywood films were directed by women across 2013 and 2014. The report also found that just 1.3% of those women were of an ethnic minority.

The reports finding come during a year that has provided many feminist films - such as ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ and 'Suffragette’ - and seen Jennifer Lawrence pen an open letter to Hollywood about pay inequality.

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The study was carried out by the Directors Guild of America (DGA) which also found that only 11.2% of films made during the two year period were made by men from ethnic minorities. 82.4% were directed by white men - a hugely disproportionate figure.

“The numbers paint a grim outlook for diverse film directors – women in particular,” said the DGA’s diversity task force co-chair Bethany Rooney.

“Much like our recent reports on television director diversity, we hope this report will put a magnifying glass on a system that makes it disproportionately challenging for talented women and minority film directors to get hired.”

Kathryn Bigelow (above) is arguably the most famous female director currently working, having become the only woman to ever win the Best Director Oscar back in 2010 for her Iraq War drama ‘The Hurt Locker’.

In October the DGA found that between and including the 2009-2010 and 2014-2015 US television seasons, 82% of first time directors were made, and 86% white. Just 18% were women, and 14% a minority. Better figures than in Hollywood, but still nothing for the television industry to be proud of.

DGA president Paris Barclay added: “What you will see is what happens when industry employers – studios and production companies – do little to address this issue head on.

“The DGA, by detailing the state of director hiring with the precision of our data, hopes to draw further attention to this serious matter so that industry employers can develop concrete director diversity plans.”

During the 2015 Oscar season there was uproar after Ava DuVernay (above) was snubbed in the Best Director category for her work on ‘Selma’.

In October the Equal Employments Opportunity Commission (EEOC), a government-run agency, began an inquiry into gender discrimination in Hollywood.

At the time director Maria Giese, whose campaigning spurred the EEOC into action, told The Guardian: “Historically we see that legal action seems to be the only thing that creates change in this industry, where women are concerned.

“For some reason, this industry seems to be believe that they’re exempt from this particular law. It’s very important for the federal agency to set the record straight with them.”

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Picture Credits: Colombia Pictures / WENN