On Monday, in its latest step toward diversifying its historically white-male-dominated ranks, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences opened its doors to the second-largest class of new members in its history: 842 industry professionals were invited to join the 92-year-old organization, down from last year's record-setting 928 but up from the previous year's 774.
Representing 59 countries, the group of invitees includes such luminaries as Tom Holland, Claire Foy and Lady Gaga, who won the original song Oscar earlier this year for "A Star Is Born" _ all invited to the actors branch _ as well as many performers, filmmakers and below-the-line professionals whose names may never grace a movie poster at your local multiplex.
According to the academy's figures, this new class is 50% female, up slightly from 49% last year, raising the representation of women in the organization to 32%. Twenty-nine% are people of color, down from 38% last year, holding the share of academy membership steady at 16%.
Notably, 10 branches of the academy invited more women than men this year, including _ for the first time _ producers, directors and screenwriters. Among the female directors brought into the academy's fold are Jennifer Kent ("The Babadook"), Nisha Ganatra ("Late Night") and Melanie Laurent ("Galveston").
With the large influxes of new members in recent years, the membership of Hollywood's leading institution has swelled to 9,794, though not without generating grumbling among some within its ranks who feel that standards have been slackened in the effort to boost inclusion.
In decades past, annual invitations were sent out with little or no fanfare, and quotas limited the number closer to 100 invitees. But all that changed in early 2016 when, facing a second consecutive year of #OscarsSoWhite controversy, the academy publicly announced an initiative to double the number of women and minorities in its ranks _ then about 1,500 and 535, respectively _ by 2020.
In a landmark 2012 analysis, The Times reported that Oscar voters were then 94% white and 77% male. On the one hand, since 2015, the share of women in the film academy has grown by 7%, while the proportion of people of color has doubled. On the other hand, that still leaves the academy 68% male and 84% white, reflecting stubborn underlying inequities that still remain in the film industry as a whole.
