Theoretically, both the Federal and California governments have laws in place to protect any and all employees of age discrimination. Congress passed the Age Discrimination in Employment Act in 1967 which prohibits employers from discriminating against older workers. California passed FEHA, the Fair Employment and Housing Act, which also protects workers aged 40 or older from discriminatory workplace or hiring practices. However, it seems Hollywood did not get the memo, and a recent court ruling may have just made things worse.

In IMDb.com v. Becerra, 16-CV06535 (N.D. Cal., filed Nov. 10, 2016), federal Judge Vince Chhabria of the Northern District of California ruled that AB 1687, which compelled the website IMDb.com (owned by Amazon) to remove the age of an actor upon request, was unconstitutional. The judge ruled that preventing IMDb, or any site, from putting information out because there was the possibility of discrimination “would enable states to forbid publication of virtually any fact.” Herein lies one of the core problems facing women when battling discrimination—how can they battle discrimination when they do not even have control of information being published about them?

The law was designed to help prevent discrimination against primarily actresses who can often miss out on roles as a result of their age. After SAG-AFTRA, the union for actors in film and television, lobbied hard to get the law passed, its president added a powerful personal story. Gabrielle Carteris insisted that she might not have been cast in “Beverly Hills 90210” had her actual age been known at the time. For all of its self-congratulating, Hollywood was practically founded upon gender and age discrimination. While male actors can play the leading man well into their senior years (see Harrison Ford), women face a much steeper climb to get cast as they age. A humorous clip from the “Amy Schumer Show” featured Schumer and actresses Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Tina Fey and Patricia Arquette toasting the end of Louis-Dreyfus' sex appeal and what that would mean for her. Past a certain age, women are no longer considered leads in almost any sort of film, especially any large blockbusters. Working in such an environment limits a woman's options, and when the California legislature attempted to pass a law to help protect women's rights and prevent discrimination, the court was more than disagreeable.

After the ruling, a SAG-AFTRA spokesperson said, “The court unfortunately fails to understand or recognize the massive impact gender and age discrimination has on all working performers. That discrimination is facilitated by IMDb's insistence on publishing performers' age information without their consent.” Not only are these women being discriminated against due to their age and gender, but they have now been left powerless by the court to do anything about the discrimination. This is not a new issue; in fact, at a press conference in 2006, Oscar winning actress Meryl Streep said: “What films have you seen lately with serious roles for 50-year-old women in the lead?”

What does justice look like for women who have spent the last 100 years being treated like replaceable parts on the Hollywood conveyer belt?

A recent study done on films dating from 1920 to 2011 found that women in their early 20s had an 80 percent chance of a leading role compared to men; however, past the age of 40 men claim 80 percent of leading roles while women only get 20 percent. Women already face proven discrimination based upon their gender; to then be hampered by their age is a powerful injustice.

Attorneys can truly commiserate with actors as we have our own frustrations with online profile companies such as AVVO, which publishes attorney profiles without the permission of those attorneys. AVVO was valued at roughly $650 million before it was purchased by Internet Brands, so the online profile business is a profit one. With movie trailers, entertainment news and more, IMDb occupies a niche yet lucrative space on the Internet. According to Alexa.com, a website that gives out information on web traffic, IMDb is the 52nd most popular website in the world, and Ahrefs.com pegs the monthly traffic at 609 million visitors. Listing the age of an actress perpetuates age discrimination, especially when the culture of Hollywood casting has proven itself to be permanently entrenched over the last century.

One hopes that an appeal is in the works, or that the law could possibly be reworked so that the scope is a bit narrower. However, if an appeal does not overturn this ruling, or the legislature isn't up to the task of fixing the law, women in Hollywood will instead have to rely on a serious, long-lasting culture change at every Hollywood studio.

Alexis S. McKenna, a partner at the Oakland-based plaintiffs' firm Winer McKenna & Burritt, is dedicated to social justice and protecting the rights of individuals. She represents workers and consumers against corporations and insurance companies in the fields of personal injury and employment law including sexual harassment and discrimination.