Rejoice: A record number of films were directed by women in 2020

Not everything about 2020 was a trash fire. According to a new study, the number of women directing films over the past year hit an all-time high.

Surprise! Not everything about 2020 was terrible. Sure, we’re all still suffering under the impact of the global coronavirus pandemic and our favorite shows and movies have been delayed for months and we’re all stressed out about literally everything. But, there is one small glimmer of good news to share as we say goodbye to one of the worst years many of us remember. And, as usual, it’s because of women.

According to a new study from San Diego State University’s Center for the Study of Women in Film and Television, 2020 set a new record for the number of women behind the camera in Hollywood. The group found that in the past year, female directors comprised 16 percent of those working on 2020’s top 100 highest-grossing films.

This record high is up from just 12 percent in 2019 and a truly dreadful 4 percent in 2018.

Granted, this number of women still isn’t as high as we all wish it were – particularly when male directors seem to be given chance after chance to helm blockbusters no matter how many of their films flop – but it’s a big step in the right direction.

“The good news is that we’ve now seen two consecutive years of growth for women who direct,” Dr. Martha Lauzen, executive director of the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film, said in a statement. “This breaks a recent historical pattern in which the numbers trend up one year and down the next. The bad news is that fully 80% of top films still do not have a woman at the helm.”

Several of the year’s biggest and buzziest films were helmed by women, including Cathy Yan’s Birds of Prey, Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman 1984, Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland, and Autumn de Wilde’s Emma. Niki Caro’s Mulan was sent to Disney+ instead of getting a theatrical bow, but in a pre-COVID era, it likely would have done boffo numbers at the box office. (So would WW84 for that matter – though the film scored a record opening for COVID times, its $16.7 million dollar opening is nowhere near the superhero-level gross it would have commanded in theaters normally.)

At any rate, it’s clear that though there’s been significant progress, we still have a lot of work to do to reach anything close to gender parity in the film industry. But there’s hope that things might be (s l o w l y) changing for the better, and multiple big-name films directed by women are headed our way in 2021. (Black Widow, anyone?)

Do you think the industry is truly moving in the right direction when it comes to gender equality in filmmaking? Sound off in the comments.