The Academy Award nominations, announced on Tuesday, did not include women filmmakers such as Sarah Polley (“Women Talking”), Gina Prince-Bythewood (“The Woman King”), Maria Schrader (“She Said”) and Charlotte Wells (“Aftersun”) in the best director lineup.

Women have won the category the past two years in a row, with Chloé Zhao taking home the 2021 prize for “Nomadland” and Jane Campion scoring last year for “Power of the Dog.”

The director category is voted by the 573 active members of the Directors Branch. The five cinematic helmers recognized by the Academy are Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”), Todd Field (“Tár”), Martin McDonagh (“The Banshees of Inisherin”), Ruben Östlund (“Triangle of Sadness”) and Steven Spielberg (“The Fabelmans”).

The year of Fennell and Zhao was the first time more than one woman had ever been nominated, while Campion’s recognition last year was the first time a woman had returned as a nominee.

Women have made strides in Hollywood over the past few years, especially with the Academy Awards, but improvements are still needed.

Though no women were recognized for directing, Polley’s critically acclaimed drama “Women Talking,” an adaptation of the novel by Miriam Toews, was among the 10 nominated movies for best picture.

Before this year’s best picture nominees, there were 581 movies nominated by the Academy.

Only 18 of those films were directed by a woman, starting with Randa Haines’ “Children of a Lesser God” (1986). 

The Academy’s selections are only a symptom of the issue that plagues Hollywood. While there’s been a clear improvement over the past decades, there has also been regression.

The report found that of the 111 directors hired to make the 100 top-grossing movies last year, just 9% were women. That was down from 12.7% in 2021. At the same time, the number of Black, Asian, Hispanic/ Latino and multi-racial and multi-ethnic moviemakers also fell from 27.3% in 2021 to 20.7% in 2022. Women of color accounted for a mere 2.7% of directors of the top 100 movies last year.

The 95th Oscars ceremony will air live on ABC on March 12 from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.