Despite Barbie emerging as the top-grossing film of 2023 and featuring a diverse cast, the broader landscape of film diversity and inclusion appears unchanged, according to the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative’s 2023 report.
The analysis shows a decline in female representation in leading roles among the top 100 grossing films, dropping to 30 percent in 2023—a 14 percent decrease from 2022 and comparable to figures from 2010.
Stacy L. Smith, founder of the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, criticized the industry for failing to effectively address this issue, suggesting a persistent disregard for the inclusion of women on screen.
The study, which reviewed the top 1,700 grossing films from 2007 to 2023, found that only 11 percent of 2023’s top films featured a gender-balanced cast. The representation of gender nonbinary characters was under 1 percent.
Intersectional inclusion also declined, with girls and women of color leading just 14 films, down from 18 in 2022. Additionally, the report highlighted important gaps, such as the absence of American Indian/Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, and Middle Eastern/North African female characters in most top films.
In terms of behind-the-camera diversity, the percentage of female directors increased from 3 percent in 2007 to 12 percent in 2023, though this is still modest. Women of color made up only 25 of the 98 women directors during this period. Similarly, the representation of women among writers remained low, with 15.2 percent in 2023.
The portrayal of disability and LGBTQ+ characters also showed little progress. Only 2.2 percent of characters with disabilities were depicted, and no transgender characters appeared among the top films. LGBTQ+ representation saw a decrease from 87 characters in 2022 to 60 in 2023.