The Guardian style guide advises writers to use the term “actor” regardless of the performer’s identity: “avoid actress except when in name of award, eg Oscar for best actress”. As the awards season is upon us, this instruction goes to the heart of a question that has been asked behind the scenes – should we still have separate best actor and actress categories? Or are they exclusionary and outdated? There’s no Academy award for best female sound engineer.
Last year, Variety magazine reported that the Academy was considering eliminating the separate awards, following the example of the Grammys in 2012 and other film and TV honours since, but that this was still in early “exploration”. The arguments in favour are that this would put male and female actors on an equal footing and include non-binary actors. The case against is the danger of fewer or no women at all being nominated: the Brits’ decision to combine the best solo artist awards in 2022 was immediately followed by an all-male shortlist.
Like the ceremonies themselves, dazzling parades of beautiful women in lovely dresses, the focus on the acting gongs obscures a less pretty reality elsewhere. It is no small irony that the only film written and directed by a woman that is up for major awards at the Baftas this Sunday and the Oscars next month is Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance, a body horror movie satirising Hollywood’s treatment of women. Last year, Barbie was nominated for best picture, but not, controversially, its director, Greta Gerwig.
In the Oscars’ 96 years, only three women have won best director. No woman has ever won best cinematographer, and only one best visual effects. These statistics are shocking, and partly reflect the underlying problem. Of all the films entered into the best director category at the Baftas this year, fewer than 25% were by women. As the Bafta chair, Sara Putt, said: “We cannot dictate what is being made… we’re at the end of that talent pipeline.”
Film is not the only creative industry wrestling with these issues. This week the longlist for the Women’s prize for non-fiction, now in its second year, was announced. Its sister prize for fiction has been dogged by charges of special‑pleading and irrelevance since its inception (as the Orange prize) nearly 30 years ago in response to 1991’s all-male Booker prize shortlist. The late AS Byatt refused to allow her novels to be submitted on the grounds that the prize was “sexist”.
Yet the Women’s prize has not only amplified and celebrated books by women, but books about women. Awards not only signal which individuals are valued, they also highlight whose stories are considered most culturally important. As Samantha Morton said in her moving Bafta fellowship award acceptance speech last year, “Representation matters ... the stories we tell have the power to change peoples’ lives.” According to this year’s favourites (now Emilia Pérez is out of the running) – Conclave, The Brutalist and A Complete Unknown – these are still by and about men. Oppenheimer swept the Oscars last year.
At a time when women’s rights are being eroded across the world, the visibility and recognition of female artists is more vital than ever. Diversity in every sense should be better represented across every category. Everyone wins when talent is fairly recognised, but that will require change not only in awards but across the film industry.
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