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Female Roles In Top-Grossing Films Decreased Last Year After 2022 Gains, Report Finds


After a year of slight gains, the percentage of female characters portrayed in the 100 top-grossing films domestically fell in 2023, a new study finds.

“Because Barbie claimed so much of our cultural space in 2023, female characters may have seemed more abundant in films last year,” the report’s author Dr. Martha Lauzin said. “The population of female characters contracts significantly at about the age of 40,” said Lauzen, founder an SDSU professor and founder/executive director of its Center for the Study of Women in TV and Film. “Moreover, while we can celebrate the performances of Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton, Rita Moreno and a handful of other actresses over 60 last year, this age cohort comprised only 7% of all females in the top grossing films of 2023, well below their representation in the U.S. population.

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