Several iconic women are currently leading this charge and proving that talent only improves with time.

The most radical act of modern cinema is simply casting a 55-year-old woman as a romantic lead, an action hero, or a college student (hello, Julia Louis-Dreyfus in You Hurt My Feelings ). As the audience ages—millennials are now in their 40s, Gen X is hitting their 50s—the demand for authentic, complex, unapologetically mature storytelling will only grow.

While visibility is improving, academic research indicates deep-seated gender inequality and discrimination Stereotyping : Older female characters are often relegated to traditional feminine ideologies