The Bechdel-Wallace Test: A Flawed Benchmark for Gender Representation in Film
The Bechdel-Wallace Test, originating from Alison Bechdel's 1985 comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For, evaluates gender disparity in cinema by stipulating that two named female characters must discuss a topic unrelated to a man. This concept, inspired by Virginia Woolf's 1929 essay A Room of One's Own, was embraced by Eurimages and the Swedish Film Institute in 2013. Several recent films directed by men, such as Backrooms (2026), The Odyssey (2026), Megalopolis (2024), and Frankenstein (2025), do not pass the test. In 2025, women accounted for 80% of roles in the US film industry, yet only 8.1% of directors helmed the top 100 grossing films. Laura Mulvey's 1975 essay highlighted the male gaze, which perpetuates patriarchal values, while only 33.6% of speaking characters in 2025 were female.
Key facts
- The Bechdel-Wallace Test originated from Alison Bechdel's 1985 comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For.
- The test requires at least two named women who talk to each other about something other than a man.
- In 2013, Eurimages and the Swedish Film Institute incorporated the test into grant criteria.
- bechdeltest.com is a user-edited database analyzing films according to the test.
- Recent films failing the test include Backrooms (2026), The Odyssey (2026), Megalopolis (2024), and Frankenstein (2025).
- All-male writing teams result in about 50% of films failing the test, while teams with one woman reduce failures to a third.
- In 2025, women accounted for 8.1% of directors of the 100 highest-grossing US films, and 33.6% of speaking or named characters.
- Laura Mulvey's 1975 essay Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema introduced the concept of the male gaze.
Entities
Artists
- Alison Bechdel
- Liz Wallace
- Virginia Woolf
- Kane Parson
- Christopher Nolan
- Francis Ford Coppola
- Guillermo del Toro
- Lyle Friedman
- Matt Daniels
- Ilia Blinderman
- Martha Lauzen
- Laura Mulvey
- Marc Webb
- Cameron Crowe
- Zach Braff
- Yaroslav Diakon
Institutions
- Eurimages
- Swedish Film Institute
- bechdeltest.com
- USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative
- Department of Defence
- Sleek Magazine
Locations
- United States
- Sweden