Oscars Snubs Women for Best Director Nominations (Again)

The nominees for the 2020 Academy Awards were released today, and the directing category lacks any women.

This isn’t a new move for the Oscars. Only five women in the show’s 92-year history have ever been nominated for best director. Only one woman has won the best director award, Kathryn Bigelow for her work directing “The Hurt Locker.”

This year’s directing nominees are Martin Scorsese for “The Irishman,” Todd Phillips for “The Joker,” Sam Mendes for “1917,” Quentin Tarantino for “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” and Bong Joon Ho for “Parasite.”

Congratulations to the Directing nominees! #OscarNoms pic.twitter.com/wAnN2RM6Ld

— The Academy (@TheAcademy) January 13, 2020

The lack of female nominees is not due to a lack of quality films by women. Greta Gerwig, who was nominated in the directing category in 2017 for “Lady Bird,” directed an adaptation of the classic novel “Little Women” that received rave reviews and high box office sales.

Gerwig was expected to become the first woman to ever be nominated for best director twice this year, but was snubbed in the category this year. This follows awards insiders leaking that many of the male academy voters did not even bother to see the film.

Other women who have directed successful and well-reviewed films this year include Lulu Wang for “The Farewell,” Marielle Heller for “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,” Lorene Scafaria for “Hustlers,” Kasi Lemmons for “Harriet,” Céline Sciamma for “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” and Alma Har’el for “Honey Boy.”

Several women in entertainment have called out the lack of women in the category, including Florence Pugh, who played Amy in “Little Women,” and “Awkward Black Girl” star Issa Rae, who announced the nominations alongside John Cho today.

“Congratulations to those men.” – Issa Rae introducing the Best Director category is a MOOD. #OscarNoms pic.twitter.com/ihxnw0E6VJ

— Kathleen Newman-Bremang (@KathleenNB) January 13, 2020

tfw Florence Pugh perfectly describes why it’s ridiculous that Greta Gerwig wasn’t nominated for an Oscar for directing Little Women — a category wherein only men were nominated — and a movie about women’s work not being deemed as valuable or important as men’s work. pic.twitter.com/XCYjHIcsiP

— Lane Moore (@hellolanemoore) January 13, 2020