Oscars: 2010s set to be most sexist and ageist decade in Academy Awards history

When it comes to representation on the big screen, there's still a long way to go

The 2010s are set to be the most sexist and ageist decade in Oscar’s history, according to a new analysis.

A study of every winner, from the beginning of the Oscars in 1929 up to the present day, suggests that progress is slowing on the big screen.

When it comes to gender equity this decade, the Best Picture and Best Actress nominations are three times lower than average, with only one Best Actress nomination from a winning Best Picture, falling short of the average three nominations calculated for this category.

Only one Best Picture winner from this decade has also featured an actress nominated for either Best Actress or Best Supporting Actress (The Shape of Water, 2018).

Either The Favourite, A Star is Born and Roma would need to win Best Picture as well as Best Actress for this not to be the case.

Both the 1950s and 1960s had two Best Picture wins that also had a Best Actress nomination, although no women won in this category.

According to the report, Best Picture winners are twice as likely to have a successful leading actor than actress, and twice as likely to have received actor nominations than actress nominations.

Around half (48 per cent) of Best Picture winning films have featured men who also won either Best Actor (27 out of 90) or Supporting Actor (16 out of 90).

Correspondingly, almost three quarters (73 per cent) of Best Picture winning films starring women have failed to scoop a Best Actress (11 out of 90) or Supporting Actress (13 out of 90) award.

Best Picture winning films have also received 107 Best Actor (56) or Supporting Actor (51) nominations, compared with just 52 Best Actress or Supporting Actress nominations.

When it comes to age, the statistics are equally damning, and reflect Hollywood’s preference for younger women.

The average age of Best Actress award winners is 40.8 years. For Best Actors, this figure increases to 47.5 years, according to the study, which has been conducted by bookmaker bwin,

Similarly, the average age of Supporting Actors is 51.0 years, compared with 41.3 years for Supporting Actresses.

Furthermore, only six of the 50 individual nominations have ever been won by the oldest nominee during the last decade.