
Twenty years ago, the feminist art collective Guerrilla Girls put out a sharp campaign comparing female representation in politics and Hollywood, declaring that the U.S. Senate was more progressive than the ostensibly liberal film industry. Now they’re bringing it back.
The group is teaming with the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University, making their annual “Celluloid Ceiling” study the core of their new campaign. As the study noted last month, only 4 percent of the top 100 films in 2018 were directed by women — the exact same as it was in 1999.
As Guerrilla Girls notes, the percentage of women in the Senate has increased from 9 percent in 1999 to 25 percent after last year’s midterm elections, leading to their slogan declaring that “Hollywood is still worse than the U.S. Senate.”

Guerilla Girls
“The intent of the campaign is to illustrate that 20 years later, the film industry continues to lag behind even our most staid political institutions,” commented Dr. Martha Lauzen, executive director of the Center.
“The side-by-side comparison offers a way of conceptualizing how little Hollywood has changed over the last two decades. While numerous media outlets dubbed 2018 the ‘year of the women’ due to the upsurge in the numbers of women who ran for and won political office, the same can’t be said for the employment of women as film directors.”
Power Women Summit 2018 Portraits, From Barbara Boxer to Zoe Saldana (Photos)
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Actress Mira Sorvino
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Actress Zoe Saldana
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Zoe Saldana
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Actress Zoe Saldana and civil rights activist Dolores Huerta
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Dolores Huerta
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Law professor Anita Hill
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Law professor Anita Hill and filmmaker Freida Lee Mock
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Women of #MeToo: Jessica Barth, Larissa Gomes, Dawn Dunning, Chantal Cousineau, Sarah Anne Masse, Melissa Schuman, Rosanna Arquette, Melissa Sagemiller, Louise Godbold,
Louisette Geiss; (seated) Molly Maeve, Katherine Kendall, Kathryn Rossetter and Anna Graham HunterPhotographed by Elisabeth Caren for TheWrap
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Artists Allie and Lexi Kaplan
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The Kaplan Twins
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Actress Arielle Kebbel
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Arielle Kebbel
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Actor David Oyelowo
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Actress and activist Rosanna Arquette
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Former Kardashian assistant Stephanie Shepherd
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Actress Alysia Reiner
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Vice Media executive Ariel Wengroff
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Mitú co-founder Beatriz Acevedo
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Betsy West and Julie Cohen, co-directors of the documentary "RBG"
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March for Our Lives activist Bria Smith
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ESPN reporter Cari Champion
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Christine Simmons, president of the Los Angeles Sparks
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Christine Simmons, president of the Los Angeles Sparks
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Former Glamour editor-in-chief Cindi Leive
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Actress Trace Lysette
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Este, Danielle and Alana Haim, HAIM
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Este, Danielle and Alana Haim, HAIM
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Olympic gold medalist Ibtihaj Muhammad
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U.S. sabre fencer and Olympic gold medalist Ibtihaj Muhammad and Los Angeles Sparks President Christine Simmons
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Actress Melanie Liburd
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Acrress Melanie Liburd
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Actress Melanie Liburd
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Actress Illeana Douglas
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Gun violence activists Jaclyn Corin and Bria Smith
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Anti-gun activist Jaclyn Corin
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Gun violence activists Jaclyn Corin and Bria Smith
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Producer Jessica Sanders and filmmaker Freida Lee Mock
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"Transparent" creator Jill Soloway
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Journalist and former USA Today editor-in-chief Joanne Lipman
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Film producer Kimberly Steward
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Film producer Cassian Elwes
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Vice Media CEO Nancy Dubuc
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Former U.S. senator Barbara Boxer
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Filmmaker Nicole Boxer and former U.S. senator Barbara Boxer
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Filmmaker Nicole Boxer
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TriStar Pictures EVP Nicole Brown
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Producer and Warner Bros. SVP Niija Kuykendall
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Director-producer Pamela B. Green
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"Steven Universe" creator Rebecca Sugar
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CAA agent Chris Andrews
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Actresses and Harvey Weinstein accusers Sarah Ann Masse and Louisette Geiss
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Film producer Scott Budnick
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Film producer Stephanie Allain
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Sue Obeidi, Muslim Public Affairs Council
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Lifetime EVP Tanya Lopez
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#MeToo movement founder Tarana Burke
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Lawyer and Times Up Legal Defense Fund head Tina Tchen
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Meghan Quinn, Artist and Photographer
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Jessica Sanders, Director, Writer, and Producer
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Crystal Patterson, Global Civic Partnerships Manager Facebook
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Lela Lee, Creator of "Angry Little Asian Girl" and Attendee Pauline Sanders, "Power Women Summit"
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Mira Sorvino, Anita Hill, HAIM, David Oyelowo, Rosanna Arquette, Nancy Dubuc, Jill Soloway and more participated in TheWrap’s inaugural event
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