Netflix reaches gender equality in leading roles, report shows

Netflix released its annual diversity and inclusion report Thursday, showing the streaming company has achieved gender equality in its leading roles.  

Between 2018 and 2021, 55 percent of Netflix films and series featured a girl or woman as the lead or co-lead, according to the report.  

Almost a third of Netflix films, 27.7 percent, and 54.8 of series in 2021 had women of color as a lead or co-lead. 

“Who said it can’t be done?” said Stacy L. Smith, the founder and director of USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative and the lead researcher behind the report.

 “Clearly, inclusion goals can be met when everyone, men and women, work towards change.”  

Netflix partnered with Smith and the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative two years ago to examine the streaming giant’s inclusion of people from different genders, races and disabilities in its U.S. movies and series.

The purpose of the report is to keep the company “accountable and effect lasting change” in the film industry, Netflix said in a statement.

Women have also made significant strides at the company behind the camera as well.  

In 2021, 26.9 percent of Netflix films were directed by women, and 38 percent of show creators that year were women, a major jump from the portion of shows created by women in 2018 — 26.9 percent.  

Women of color are also increasingly being placed in leadership positions behind the camera. 

In 2021, 11.8 percent of Netflix series were directed by a woman of color, up from the 5.6 percent of series in 2018, the report shows.

But there is still more work to do.

Latinos made up 6.8 percent of leads and co-leads in Netflix films between 2018 and 2021, while Asian Americans made up 9.2 percent of film leads and co-leads, the report shows.