Hollywood and Gender Inequality: An Examination of the Underrepresentation of Women Directors and Actors

AbstractPurposeHollywood, despite being the oldest film industry in the world, continues to be plagued by issues such as gender inequality and a lack of diversity. To analyze the gender inequality in the representation of women, this research observes in the top-five grossing movies directed by men and the top-five grossing movies with female directors in 2019 with the Bechdel Test.Design/methodology/approachCorrelational Research Design is also used to determine whether a person’s gender affects their annual earnings or their representation on both sides of the camera.FindingsThe results showed that a wide disparity continues to exist between the two genders and that the representation of women and focus on female characters are improved when a woman is directing the film.Originality/valueThey suggest that while things have improved for women in Hollywood, the profound positive shift that has been predicted by industry observers has not come to pass, and the industry lacks a will to change.