As a holiday exercise I looked at the Sight and Sound critic’s poll.
Of the 100 critics I identified 19 women’s names. For another 9 names I could not define gender.
I was curious to see if there was a definite trend in the women critics’ choices. At a cursory glance:
The Passion of Joan of Arc was mentioned by 4 critics
The Godfather, La Regle du Jeu, Vertigo, Cleo de 5 a 7, Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce,1080 Bruxelles were mentioned by three critics.
Singing in the Rain, Shoah, Do the Right Thing, Man with a Movie Camera, Through the Olive Trees, Brief Encounter, Citizen Kane, Au Hazard Balthazar, I Know Where I Am Going obtained two mentions each.
Does this mean anything? Well, the ratio of women to men is at the most 30% . It may be possible to extract more precise information about the films when the interactive list of 846 critics later this month is published online
Old Age and Feature Films 
The trouble is that if men are 70% of the voters this will just serve to perpetuate the partisan nature of film criticism and the industry. Sight and Sound try to prove how extensive and therefore scientific this survey is, but it is as skewed as the industry it seeks to measure. They are not very good at actually interrogating their results, and asking the questions that need to be asked. Sight and Sound itself is very much skewed towards a male viewpoint if you look at comparative contribution regarding gender. It’s a bit depressing really.
Thanks yet again for doing the consistent, critical reading and keeping us informed as to what
you’ve discovered, Rina.. I do feel guilty for taking your work for granted, but at the same time I am
both grateful and hugely impressed by your knowledge and how you use your discoveries to
remind us of the underlying messages of dominant voices in our everyday media.