The Guardian view on film awards: and the winner is… | Editorial

Getting rid of separate best actor and best actress categories is not the answer to lack of diversity in the industry

The Guardian style guide advises writers to use the term actor" regardless of the performer's identity: avoid actress except when in name of award, eg Oscar for best actress". As the awards season is upon us, this instruction goes to the heart of a question that has been asked behind the scenes - should we still have separate best actor and actress categories? Or are they exclusionary and outdated? There's no Academy award for best female sound engineer.

Last year, Variety magazine reported that the Academy was considering eliminating the separate awards, following the example of the Grammys in 2012 and other film and TV honours since, but that this was still in early exploration". The arguments in favour are that this would put male and female actors on an equal footing and include non-binary actors. Thecase against is the danger of fewer or no women at all being nominated: the Brits' decision to combine the best soloartist awards in 2022 was immediately followed byan all-male shortlist.