Report Finds Only 18 Percent of 2023 Top-Grossing Films Feature More Women Characters Than Men

A new study led by Martha Lauzen of San Diego State University has found a large disparity between men and women’s representation in the most popular films of 2023. Out of the 100 top-grossing films last year, just 18 percent featured a predominately women-led cast and only 5 percent featured an equal representation of male and female characters.

Every year since 2002, Dr. Lauzen, executive director of the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University, has conducted the “It’s a Men’s (Celluloid) World” report. This year’s study analyzed 2,200 characters from the 100 the top-grossing movies in 2023. The percentage of films featuring women protagonists was 28 percent, a drop from 2022’s share of 33 percent and a large decrease from the 40 percent achieved in 2019. Men’s representation of film protagonists increased from 52.2 percent in 2022 to 62 percent in 2023. Just over one third of films had 10 or more women characters, far below the 73 percent share of films with 10 or more men characters.

Dr. Lauzen’s report also analyzed the differences in age, race, and occupational representation between men and women characters in 2023 films. Women characters were most likely to be in their 20s and 30s, while male characters were most likely to be in their 30s or 40s. The majority of both men and women characters were White, but women were more likely than men to come from Black, Latina, or Asian backgrounds. While only 10 percent of the characters studied were considered to be in a leadership position, men represented 63 percent of leaders compared to women’s representation at 37 percent.

Disparities between men and women on film were found when studying the differences between men and women in roles behind-the-scenes. Movies with at least one woman director or writer accounted for 48 percent of films with women protagonists. For films produced by exclusively men directors and writers, women represented just 19 percent of protagonists.

Dr. Lauzen received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Iowa. She earned her doctoral degree from the University of Maryland.