Women’s stories stand out in Oscars race

Los Angeles, Mar.10: Michelle Yeoh battles her way through a multiverse, Angela Bassett leads a grieving nation at war, and Cate Blanchett deviously manipulates members of a world-class orchestra.

Wide-ranging stories led by female actors fill the list of movies vying for Academy Awards on Sunday, reflecting gains in an industry that has long relegated women to secondary roles in the shadow of male heroes.

“It’s such an extraordinary year for women,” “Tar” actress Blanchett said at last month’s British Film Academy Awards (BAFTAs). And we know we are just the tip of the iceberg,” she added. “Every year, there’s idiosyncratic, remarkable performances that just break down the myth that women’s experience is monolithic.”

“Tar” is competing for the prestigious best picture prize with front-runner “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” a kung fu adventure starring Yeoh as the protagonist tasked with saving the world. “Women Talking,” about Mennonite women grappling with sexual assaults in their community, also made the best picture field. In the supporting actress race, Angela Bassett is in the running for playing Queen Ramonda in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” a Marvel superhero flick that put female warriors at the forefront.

Still, Hollywood remains far from a place of gender parity. “Women are making progress in certain areas on screen,” said UCLA sociologist Darnell Hunt, co-author of an annual Hollywood diversity report. But, Hunt added, they “have a long way to go, particularly behind the scenes.”

In 2017, public revelations of sexual misconduct by producer Harvey Weinstein, which supercharged the #MeToo movement and was chronicled in last fall’s movie “She Said,” prompted women to speak out about their lack of power in Hollywood and demand equality given that they make up roughly half of the overall U.S. population. Data shows some improvement.

Women accounted for 47.2% of leading roles in the top theatrical and streaming films in 2021, UCLA researchers found. That was an increase from 32.9% in 2017.

But among directors - the most powerful role on a movie set - just 21.8% were women in 2021. It was 12.6% in 2017. Just three women have won the Oscar for best director in the awards’ 94-year history, and none were nominated this year, overlooking Sarah Polley of “Women Talking” and Gina Prince-Blythewood of “The Woman King.”