From rom-coms to horror films
Lois Weber was a well-respected director, producer, and actress in the early 1900s. In 1916 she signed a deal with Universal Pictures, making her the highest-paid director in Hollywood at the time.
In 1906, Alice Guy-Blaché became the first female film director in Hollywood. She produced a short film called 'The Consequences of Feminism.' It was a comedy that showed the gender roles reversed, with women behaving like slobs and chasing after men.
In 1896, the film industry was born with the release of 'The Kiss.' It was an 18-second short re-enacting the kiss from a popular stage musical called 'The Widow Jones.' It was produced by the famed American inventor Thomas Edison.
Pickford was also a producer and an astute business woman. She started multiple foundations and initiatives to help women in the arts. She eventually became one of the most powerful executives in Hollywood.
The 1920s began with women gaining the right to vote after decades of fighting. Actress Mary Pickford became one of the biggest movie stars of the decade, as well as the highest-paid.
Anna May Wong skyrocketed to fame in the 1920s, becoming the first Chinese-American movie star. She was typically cast as a caricature of a Chinese villain opposite white actors. Her career was stunted when the Hays Code was introduced. It forbid a non-white woman from playing the love interest of a white man on screen. This meant she could never win a leading role.
Subversive German film star Marlene Dietrich shocked audiences with the finale of her 1930 movie 'Morocco.' In the last musical number she dressed like a man and kissed a woman. She was the first leading lady to kiss another woman on screen.
In 1933, Hedy Lamarr became the first woman to depict an o r g a s m on screen in the film 'Ecstasy.' The Czech movie was banned in the US.
Josephine Baker became the first ever Black woman to star in a motion picture. She played the lead role in the French movie 'Zouzou.' Baker had left the US and moved to France, in protest of America's racist segregation laws.
In the 1940s, women started to play more interesting roles. They were written as more complicated and independent characters, without relying on marriage to tie them into the story.
In 1940 Hattie McDaniel became the first Black woman to win an Oscar for her role in 'Gone With the Wind.' Her character would later come to be the epitome of damaging racial stereotypes in cinema but her achievement was a historical landmark nonetheless.
In 1941 Bette Davis was the first woman to be elected President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She resigned eight weeks later when she realized that the role was symbolic and devoid of any real power or responsibility.
Halle Berry was famously the first Black woman to win the Oscar for Best Actress in 2002. She was recognized for her starring role in the film ‘Monster Ball.’
Laverne Cox is a transgender actress famous for her role in the series ‘Orange is the New Black.’ In 2013 she became the first out trans woman to be nominated for an Emmy.
Darnell Martin became the first Black woman to direct a studio film with ‘I Like It Like That’ in 1994.
In 2017, women in Hollywood started to speak out about sexual misconduct in the entertainment industry for the first time. It started a chain reaction that spread around the world, allowing people of all genders and from all walks of life to speak up and be heard.
Sources: (Refinery 29) (SheKnows)
See also: Inspirational women who changed history
Comedian Robin Tyler did a comedy special in 1978, making her the first out lesbian to appear on national TV.
In 1997, Ellen DeGeneres came out in an episode of her hit sitcom ‘Ellen.’ This made her the first out lesbian to play an out lesbian on TV!
Kathryn Bigelow was the first woman to win the Oscar for Best Director in 2010. She directed the movie ‘The Hurt Locker.’
In 1977 Lina Wertmuller became the first female director to be nominated for an Oscar, for her film ‘Seven Beauties.’ She didn’t win, but received an honorary award in 2019.
In 1955, Dorothy Dandridge was the first Black woman to be nominated for the Oscar for Best Actress. She was recognized for her role in ‘Carmen Jones.’ She lost the award to Grace Kelly.
Gertrude Beg became one of the first women to create, write, and direct a sitcom. ‘The Goldbergs’ was a radio show that moved to TV in 1949. Berg also starred in the show and won an Emmy for Best Actress.
The year 1962 saw the first Latinx woman to be nominated for an Oscar. Rita Moreno was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Anita in ‘West Side Story.’
In 1948 Pauline Frederick became the first full-time female TV news correspondent. This was five years after TV news first began to air.
Christine Jorgensen was a World War II veteran and actress who underwent the first public gender confirmation surgery in 1952. She was the first openly transgender celebrity in the US.
In 1970 Gail Fisher became the first Black woman to win a Primetime Emmy for her role in ‘Mannix.’ This was 21 years after the award show was created.
In 1972, the hit show ‘Maude’ depicted the first ever legal abortion on Primetime TV. Abortion was legal in the state of New York where the show was set. In 1973, the Supreme Court ruled that the constitution protects a woman’s legal right to have an abortion.
The same year, Joan Rivers became the first woman to host her own late-night talk show. She remained the only woman to have hosted a late-night talk show for 30 years, until Lily Singh landed ‘A Little Late With Lilly Singh’ in 2019.
When the film industry was first establishing itself, women had a surprising amount of influence. They wrote, directed, and did all sorts of fascinating and shocking things on screen. Some of the most powerful women in Hollywood's history were active in the early 20th century. But in the 1930s, the Hays Code was introduced. It was a censorship law that applied to the entertainment industry, banning everything from the depiction of interracial relationships to "lustful kissing." It has taken decades for women, particularly LGBTQ women and women of color, to regain a foothold, and it's still far from being a level playing field.
Let's take a look at the evolving role of women in Hollywood over the past century through a timeline of milestone moments. Click through the gallery to get started.
A timeline of female firsts in Hollywood
Discover the female pioneers of the silver screen
MOVIES History
When the film industry was first establishing itself, women had a surprising amount of influence. They wrote, directed, and did all sorts of fascinating and shocking things on screen. Some of the most powerful women in Hollywood's history were active in the early 20th century. But in the 1930s, the Hays Code was introduced. It was a censorship law that applied to the entertainment industry, banning everything from the depiction of interracial relationships to "lustful kissing." It has taken decades for women, particularly LGBTQ women and women of color, to regain a foothold, and it's still far from being a level playing field.
Let's take a look at the evolving role of women in Hollywood over the past century through a timeline of milestone moments. Click through the gallery to get started.