New study makes Hollywood’s woman problem official

If you’ve felt like actresses aren’t getting the same opportunities as their male counterparts in Hollywood, you’re on to something. And now there’s actual, verifiable proof of your hunch. A new study by the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University has found that women only comprised 12 percent of the protagonists in 2014’s top-grossing films, while they’d been at 15 percent in 2013 and 16 percent in 2012.

So just because “The Hunger Games” and “Maleficent” did really, really well last year, don’t be fooled. “There is a growing disconnect or gap between what we might perceive as being the current status of women in film and their actual status,” says the study’s author, Martha Lauzen. “A few high-profile cases can skew our thinking.”

OK, fine, but how do we fix it?

Follow Ned Ehrbar on Twitter: @nedrick