Why the ‘Hollywood Reporter’ is doing away with powerful women lists

By Kit steinkellner

November 12, 2015

By Kit steinkellner

November 12, 2015

Today, Hollywood Reporter president and chief creative officer Janice Min announced that The Hollywood Reporter and their sister publication Billboard will no longer be chronicling the most influential women in entertainment with an annual Power 100 list. Though on the surface, this may seem like a disappointing choice to some (after all, we always love an excuse to celebrate badass ladies), the pubs have a solid and legitimate reason for ending this tradition that dates back to 1992.

In her editorial, Min explains that even though these lists have been celebrating powerful women for 23 years, the unsettling truth is things haven’t changed enough for women in entertainment in the past two-plus decades. Executive suites are currently 32% female (and at film studios, 24%) numbers that Min explains have “barely budged” since the Power 100 lists began. And the number of female directors helming top-grossing movies has actually dropped. As she cites in her piece, 2 percent of 2014’s top 100 films were directed by women, compared with 5 percent in 1992.

Min does not believe that Hollywood “consciously embraces sexism,” but, for her, the fact remains that “…the acceptance of women as “lesser” in Hollywood is so commonplace, it’s as if we’ve grown comfortable living with our own ugly furniture. We don’t even know it looks bad.”

So how does this sad state of affairs inform the dissolution of the Power 100 lists? Min believes that these lists play into an old and insidious form of sexism- convincing women that there are a limited amount of seats for them at the table and that they will have to battle one another to earn their place.

Min proceeds to announce that henceforth there will be a single Power 100 (Hollywood Reporter) and Power 50 (Billboard) annual list. The lists will no longer be gendered because, as Min tells it, “…right here, right now, the moment feels wrong to host a female cage match.”

Here’s to coming together, combining our power, and hunting as a pack.