: Studies show the percentage of female characters drops dramatically after age 40. While 33% of female characters are in their 30s, this falls to just 15% for those in their 40s. In contrast, male characters' representation remains steady at 28% for both age groups.

When older women are cast, they are frequently pigeonholed into specific, often negative, archetypes:

The landscape for mature women in entertainment and cinema is currently defined by a "hypervisibility paradox": while their visibility has increased over the last two decades, they remain significantly underrepresented and often confined to narrow stereotypes compared to their male counterparts. Current Representation and Disparities