When the Academy Awards got underway last night, seven female nominees had the chance to make Oscars history.
In the end, only one did. Viola Davis won the award for best supporting actress for her performance in Fences, making her the first black person to achieve acting’s Triple Crown—winning a Tony, an Emmy, and an Oscar.
Two other actresses, Meryl Streep and Octavia Spencer, could have made history in their own right but didn’t snag awards Sunday night. Likewise, director Ava DuVernay, producer Kimberly Steward, film editor Joi McMillon, and sound editor Ai-Ling Lee could’ve broken ground in their respective categories, but they all went home empty-handed too.
Those in the latter group stood out as women recognized in non-acting categories, which are still dominated—to the tune of 80%—by men, according to a study by the Women’s Media Center. The most blatant boys’ club is the category of cinematography, which has—for the Oscars’ entire 89-year history—never seen a female nominee. Women were also absent among best director nominees for the seventh year in a row.
Women may be scarce in these award categories because they are underrepresented in the profession’s upper echelon overall. San Diego State’s Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film found last month that just 17% of directors, writers, producers, editors, and cinematographers working on the 250 top-grossing films in the U.S. in 2016 were women.
Davis got to the heart of the problem in 2015 in her Emmys acceptance speech, when she referenced being the first African-American to win for best actress in a drama. “Let me tell you something,” she said. “The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity.”