"Hollywood's Diversity Efforts Labeled Performative, Reveals Study"
Despite the commercial success of films directed by women in 2023, including Greta Gerwig's billion-dollar-grossing Barbie, Hollywood continues to underrepresent women and people of color behind the camera. Two studies, one by USC's Annenberg Inclusion Initiative and another by the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film, highlight that women directed only 16% of the top 250 grossing films in 2023, a decrease from 2022. The reports criticize the industry's diversity efforts as "performative," with little real change in gender and ethnic diversity in directing roles, indicating a persistent inequality in Hollywood's off-camera roles.