New USC study finds that gender inequality still persists in Hollywood

Since the birth of Hollywood, technology has changed and story trends have evolved, but one thing remains constant. Gender inequality remains a problem in Hollywood. USC’s Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism released a new study of the top-100 grossing films of 2009, which included Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Twilight: New Moon and the second Transformers film, showing that there were no more female speaking roles than there were the previous year.

According to The Los Angeles Times, of the 4,342 speaking roles in these films, just 32.8 percent of them were female, while 67.2 percent were male, exactly the same as 2008. USC Annenberg associate professor Stacy L. Smith called the trend “remarkably stable,” adding that it shows “an industry formula for gender that may be outside of people's conscious awareness.”

The study even showed that female characters are more likely to be seen in swimwear and unbuttoned shirts than men, to be seen with exposed skin and to be called attractive by another character.

Behind the camera, the gender gap is even more troubling. Just 3.6 percent of the films were directed by women and 13.5 percent of the writers were women.

This inequality persists, even though more than half of those who bought movie tickets that year were female, according to The Hollywood Reporter. USC’s study cited data from the MPAA for that statistic.

"Male consumers aren't the only ones going to the movies, but our cultural storytellers today are male. The problem is really thinking about the perpetuation of the status quo,” Smith told the LA Times.