The 91st Academy Awards was an amazing night for women.
The annual ceremony presented Oscars awards to 15 females, which broke the previous record of 12 in 2007 and 2015. Outside of the Best Supporting Actress and Best Actress categories, which were given to Regina King and Olivia Colman respectively, women were winning in numerous non-acting categories, such as Ruth E. Carter for Best Costume Design and Hannah Beachler for Best Production Design.
This historic evening was also a drastic contrast to the 2018 ceremony, where only 6 women won. In addition, notable to this year was the number of women of color who were publicly recognized by the Academy. Carter and Beachler were the first African Americans to win their respective awards. Another first, Domee Shi, a Chinese Canadian won an award for her animated short film, “Bao.” In an industry that still is not diverse enough, it was inspiring to see so many women awarded for their incredible work.
There is still, of course, a lot of work ahead. No female directors were nominated this year and no films directed by women were nominated. Of the 211 people nominated for an award, only 25% of those nominees were women. Progress is, annoyingly, slow.
Yet, in this creeping progress, there is still some hope. It is astounding to now live in a world in which a documentary short about menstruation and period taboos was awarded at the Oscars. It is thanks to these wins that media representation (of both actors and stories) and production becomes a little more inclusive and our society is a little better for it.
Here are the 15 women who won at the Academy Awards 2019:
Olivia Colman – Best Actress for “The Favourite”
Regina King – Best Supporting Actress for “If Beale Street Could Talk”
Ruth E. Carter – Best Costume Design for “Black Panther”
Lady Gaga – Best Original Song for “Shallow” from the film “A Star is Born”
Hannah Beachler – Best Production Design for “Black Panther”
Rayka Zehtabchi and Melissa Berton – Best Short Subject Documentary for “Period. End of Sentence”
Domee Shi and Becky Neiman-Cobb – Best Animated Short Film for “Bao”
Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Shannon Dill – Best Documentary Feature for “Free Solo”
Nina Hartstone – Best Sound Editing for “Bohemian Rhapsody”
Jaime Ray Newman – Best Live Action Short Film for “Skin”
Kate Biscoe and Patricia Dehaney – Best Makeup and Hairstyling for “Vice”
What was your favorite part of the 91st Academy Awards? We also loved all the fashion we saw on the red carpet. Our favorite best-dressed celebrity was Jennifer Lopez!