Natalie Portman caused a stir at the Golden Globes on Sunday when she pointed out that there were no women nominated in the best director category.
Women were also absent from some of the key categories in the BAFTA nominations, which were announced Tuesday.
A recent study about women working in Hollywood is backing up that disparity.
“The Celluloid Ceiling: Behind-the-Scenes Employment of Women on the Top 100, 250, and 500 Films of 2017” found that women made up 18% of all the directors, writers, producers, executive producers, editors and cinematographers who worked on the top 250 US films released last year.
The statistic represents an increase of one percentage point from the previous year.
Released by the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University, “The Celluloid Ceiling” has tracked women’s employment on top grossing films for the past 20 years and author Martha M. Lauzen said in the paper that it is one of the “longest-running and most comprehensive study of women’s behind-the- scenes employment in film available.”
There have been some small gains.
The study found that women accounted for 11% of directors working on the top 250 films in 2017, up 4 percentage points from 2016.
Women fared best as producers (25%), followed by executive producers (19%) and editors (16%).
Only 11% were writers and 4% worked as cinematographers.
Hollywood has been grappling with gender parity in the workplace.
On Sunday, attendees wore black to draw attention to the Time’s Up initiative started by a group of more than 1,000 women to battle harassment women suffer in all industries and to highlight inequality.
This week also saw much discussion around pay disparity after a report said Mark Wahlberg was paid $1.5 million for reshoots for the film “All of the Money in the World” while his co-star Michelle Williams received less than $1000.