The study reveals the gender gap in the Academy Awards for best performance among nominees over 50 years old. It underscores that actresses over 50 receive significantly fewer nominations and awards than their male colleagues.

The on-screen representation of women over 50 is important to break age-related stereotypes and show the diversity of experiences that women live throughout their lives. Expanding the roles and narratives available to this demographic allows us to reflect reality more authentically, as the public demands.

According to a survey by the Geena Davis Institute, only 25% of respondents aged 50 or older agreed that their age group was accurately represented on screen, compared to 42% of respondents between 18 and 49 years who felt the same about their age group.

Surprisingly, this gap has increased over the years: the analysis by decades reflects how men over fifty have been gaining representation while women of the same age have been left behind, both in nominations and awards. The gap peaked in the 1980s, with 44% of male nominees over 50 and only 16% of female nominees.

It includes a series of recommendations for the industry, encouraging the financing of stories in which characters over fifty have a more equitable development. It also advocates changes in castings, broader promotion during the awards season, and recognition of equality in project funding, to include more stories of women beyond fifty.

• Report available here (English only)