Biggest global box office success in 2023, the film barbie is an exception not only because of its impressive recipes, but also for its many female characters. A recent American study revealed that 77% of the 100 most popular films in 2023 featured more male than female roles on screen.
Only 18% of films featured more female characters, while 5% had an equal number of roles played by each gender.
This data was revealed in the report It’s a Man’s (Celluloid) World which San Diego State University and the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film have published annually since 2002.
This year, Professor Martha M. Lauzen and her team observed more than 2,200 characters to assess the representation of women on the big screen.
In her study, the researcher notes a drop in the number of films with a woman as the protagonist (33%, in 2022, compared to 28% in 2023).
She also points out that the characters played by women were younger. “The majority of female characters are between 20 and 30 years old (55%), while the majority of male characters are between 30 and 40 years old (56%),” we can read in the study.
View the study results