Scarlett Johansson reflects on better roles for women in Hollywood these days

Scarlett Johansson is reflecting on how Hollywood has changed for women since she first started working in the industry. 

In a recent interview with The Times of London, the actress opened up about how earlier in her career, the roles she was offered were mostly focused on how desirable her character was, and often built around the goals of male characters rather than their own.

“The messaging is different — there are many more role models, women are visible in powerful positions and the opportunities I have had to play women who don’t have to just be one thing or another have increased,” Johansson shared. 

“But when I was younger, a lot of the roles I was offered, or I went for, had their ambitions or character arcs revolving around their own desirability, or the male gaze, or a male-centred story. That is less frequent, though — something has shifted.”

Johansson, who has been one of Hollywood’s most recognizable stars for decades, acknowledged that it’s a much better time now for young women in the industry.

She pointed to the rise of visible female role models and more dynamic female characters as signs of progress.

This isn’t the first time she’s spoken about how she was portrayed in her earlier years on screen. 

In 2022, the Avengers star addressed the issue of being overly sexualized in Hollywood at a young age, saying it limited the kinds of roles she was considered for.

“I kind of became objectified and pigeonholed in this way where I felt like I wasn’t getting offers for work for things that I wanted to do,” she said at the time. 

“I remember thinking to myself, ‘I think people think I’m 40 years old.’ It somehow stopped being something that was desirable and something that I was fighting against.”