Women in Hollywood films ‘grossly underrepresented'

Despite the successes of recent Hollywood blockbusters with strong female leads - from The Hunger Games, Twilight and Anna Karenina, to The Iron Lady, Bridesmaids and Snow White And The Huntsmen - speaking roles for women in cinema have hit a five-year low, with men now being given more than 70 per cent of speaking roles in films.

And the female roles most likely to be given words to say are those of teenagers showing a lot of skin, according to a study by the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

Among the 100 highestgrossing films at the 2012 US box office, only 28.4 per cent of the 4,475 speaking characters were female - a ratio of 2.51 males to every one female on screen - a figure which has fallen from 32.8 per cent three years ago.

The report, lead by Communication Professor Stacy L.Smith, declared that 'females are grossly underrepresented on screen in 2012 films', and that only '6 per cent of the top-grossing films in 2012 featured a balanced cast, or females in 45 to 54.9 per cent of all speaking roles'.

And when they are on screen, 31 per cent of women in 2012 were shown with at least some exposed skin, and 31.6 per cent were depicted wearing sexuallyrevealing clothing.

Professor Smith said: 'The last few years have seen a wealth of great advocacy for more women on screen. Unfortunately, that investment has not yet paid off with an increase in female characters or a decrease in their hypersexualization.'

The study also found that the majority of all female roles are written for 21 to 39-year-olds.

Females in the top-grossing films of 2012 are more likely than males to be shown in ' sexy' clothes - 31.6 per cent compared with seven per cent - or partially naked - 31 per cent compared with 9.4 per cent.

And actresses aged 13 to 20 are more likely to be shown in either of these states than those aged 21 to 39 or 40 to 64.

The samples also found that the proportion of teenage females in alluring apparel has increased by 22 per cent between 2009 and 2012.

Behind the camera things are not much better. A mere 16.7 per cent of the 1,228 directors, writers, and producers are female across the 100 top-grossing films of 2012.

Women accounted for 4.1 per cent of directors, 12.2 per cent of writers, and 20 per cent of producers - a ratio of five males to every one female behind the camera.

Smith added: The under representation of females on screen is surprising given population and movie attendance patterns. Girls and women represent fully half of the U.S. population and buy half of the movie tickets sold.'