Study of Women in Film Shows a Significant Increase in Female Protagonists

According to the Hollywood Reporter, 2016 reported a record number of female protagonists in film. 29% of all leading roles in the top 100 domestic grossing films were female, which is an increase of 7% since 2015. Male characters, major and minor, are still dominant on screen.

In fact, female characters make up only 32% of speaking roles. This is a drop of one percentage point since 2015.

Dr. Martha Lauzen, executive director of the Center for the Study of Women in Television at San Diego State University which generated the study states "While audiences were still more than twice as likely to see male characters as female characters in top-grossing movies, females fare better as protagonists and major characters in 2016"

Not surprisingly, the likelihood of a female protagonist or leading character is heavily influenced by the presence of female writers or directors. When in the hands of a female professional, 57% of films featured a woman in a leading role. When written and directed by men, this number drops to 18%.

Also still in place is the typical representation of women on screen. Female characters were seen in fewer work/office settings and were less likely to play leaders. Additionally the characters on screen were typically in their 20's and 30's, while the average age of male characters was closer to 30-40.

Turning to race, 76% of female characters were white, 14% black, Asian representation doubled from 3% to 6%, and 3% were Latina.

For a further breakdown, read Gregg Kilday's full article here.