It seems great that MTV Awards organisers are making the “best actor” award a gender-neutral category, as reported in a previous article. This propagates the idea that gender should be an irrelevant factor when it comes to talent.

However, with gender inequality still a prevalent issue in the entertainment industry, would it actually be more difficult for women especially, to compete for the best actor title with men?

Looking at all existing gender-neutral awards at the Oscars such as best director and best cinematographer, gender inequality is a very common case.

Kathyn Bigelow posing with her awards. She is the only woman so far who has won Best Director. Images by: Getty Images.

Only four female directors have been nominated for the best director award, with Kathryn Bigelow being the only woman to have ever won.

There were no female directors nominated for best director in the 89th Annual Academy Awards — and this is not a very rare phenomenon. Would this be the case for MTV’s best actor category as well?

Animation student, Jude, 22, said that if she was an actress she “would like to compete with males and females”. She told WNOL: “However, there is an issue of the awards being cut in half.”