While movie fans were excited for the list of the 2020 Academy Awards nominees, many were disappointed to see that the Best Director category was lacking female representation yet again. This was particularly noteworthy being that 2019’s Little Women adaption received several awards, yet director Greta Gerwig was absent from her designated category.

Though it was disappointing to see a female-free Best Director list, this snubbing isn’t unusual. In fact, between the Golden Globes and Academy Awards, only seven woman have ever received a Best Director nomination. We want to give credit for its due, so we thought it was time to focus on these female directors. We’ll be looking at which of their films have scored major award show recognition.

It’s time to travel back through awards season history. Here are all the women who have received nominations in the Best Director category at the Golden Globes or Academy Awards (and the movies they were nominated for).

Lina Wertmüller - Seven Beauties  (1975)

The first woman to ever be recognized at the Academy Awards in the Best Director category is Italian screenwriter and director Lina Wertmüller. Though she began making films in the ’60s, her only Academy Award nominations came in 1977 for her work on Seven Beauties. She received recognition in the Best Director and Best Original Screenplay categories.

The film tells of an Italian man who is captured by the German army, and chooses to seduce an “unattractive” female commandant to survive. A series of flashbacks show the decisions he makes in life that lead up to this controversial choice.

Though Wertmüller didn’t leave the Oscars with a trophy in hand, she was later given an honorary Oscar for her achievements in film in 2019.

Barbra Streisand - Yentl (1983)

Barbra Streisand decided to wear many hats in order to create Yentl just as she imagined. She ended up directing, producing, writing, and starring in the musical romantic drama.

The film recounts the story of a Jewish woman who poses as a man so that she can be educated in the primary source of Jewish theology, Talmudic Law, after the passing of her father.

Streisand made Golden Globes history by becoming the first female to be nominated for Best Director at the ceremony. She remains the only woman to win this award during the Golden Globes’ 77 years.

Barbra Streisand - The Prince Of Tides (1991)

Streisand got a second shot at scoring a Golden Globe award in 1992 for her directing of The Prince of Tides, which she also starred in and co-produced.

The romantic drama, based on the novel of the same name by Pat Conroy, tells of a teacher and football coach from the south who is asked to go to New York City in an attempt to help his twin sister’s psychiatrist uncover the details behind her latest suicide attempt. This has him struggling to uncover the pain of his past and, unexpectedly, falling in love.

Though Streisand was overlooked in the Best Director and Best Actress categories at the Oscars, the film did also receive nominations for Best Picture, Best Actor (Nick Nolte), Best Supporting Actress (Kate Nelligan), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, and Best Original Score.

Jane Campion - The Piano (1993)

The year after Streisand’s nomination, Jane Campion was recognized by receiving Best Director and Best Screenplay nominations at both the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards for her work on The Piano. Though she didn’t go home with any awards for her directing, she did snag the Best Original Screenplay honor at the Academy Awards.

The mid-19th century period drama tells of a psychologically mute woman who attempts to survive life in New Zealand alongside her young daughter and the frontiersman whom she wedded through an arranged marriage.

Sofia Coppola - Lost In Translation (2003)

It took ten years for another woman to be included in the Best Director category at the Golden Globes or Oscars. Thankfully, in 2004, Sofia Coppola broke the dry spell by receiving Best Director and Best Screenplay nominations at both ceremonies. She ended up finishing award season with a pair of screenplay awards.

Lost In Translation follows the lives of an aging movie star and a recent college graduate and newlywed who end up meeting in Tokyo. Together, they struggle to figure out their futures and the past that has defined them.

Coppola remains the youngest woman to ever receive a director nod at the Academy Awards, at the age of 32.

Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker (2008)

Kathryn Bigelow made history in 2010 by becoming the only woman to ever win the Best Director category at the Academy Awards during its 92 years. She additionally scooped up a Best Director nomination at the Golden Globes.

The film that picked up the recognition was The Hurt Locker, a 2008 war drama about a sergeant and a specialist who deal with an impulsive new leader after the death of their admired Staff Sergeant.

The Hurt Locker also went away with the coveted Best Picture title at the Oscars.

Kathryn Bigelow - Zero Dark Thirty (2012)

Bigelow entered back into awards territory a few years later in 2013 by scoring a Best Director nomination at the Golden Globe Awards for her directing of Zero Dark Thirty.

This action-thriller dramatizes the long, difficult hunt for Osama bin Laden after the terrorist attacks of 9/11. It all ends with an intense military raid of his compound in Pakistan.

The film was both a critical and commercial success, with many critics placing it on their end-of-year top-ten lists.

Ava DuVernay - Selma (2014)

Ava DuVernay made history in 2014 by becoming the only black woman to ever receive a nomination in the Best Director category at the Golden Globe Awards. This was for her directing of the 2014 historical drama Selma.

The story focused on the discrimination in the South that remained active despite the implementation of the Civil Rights Act in 1964. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. decides to work against injustice by marching from Selma to Montgomery alongside his followers.

Though the film only took home Best Original Song at both ceremonies, it remains one of the most impactful stories to emerge during its release year.

Greta Gerwig - Lady Bird (2017)

Though Gerwig may have been snubbed at the 2020 Academy Awards, she managed to break into Oscar recognition in 2018 for her work on Lady Bird, receiving noms in the Best Director and Best Original Screenplay categories.

The coming-of-age comedy-drama, which marked Gerwig’s solo directorial debut, tells of a Sacramento teenager who hopes to escape the restraints of Catholic high school and attend college in a culture-filled city on the East Coast.

Lead actress Saoirse Ronan and supporting actress Laurie Metcalf scored Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress nominations in their respective categories at both ceremonies. Ronan won at the Globes. The film was also up for Best Picture.