Despite recent progress, mature women still face significant hurdles in mainstream media:

The pattern was clear: where commercial pressures were less dominant, where auteur directors had more freedom, mature women found richer roles. This wasn't because international filmmakers were more virtuous — it was because their funding models and cultural expectations were different. But the result was a body of work that Hollywood could learn from.

For a paper focused on mature women in entertainment and cinema

Historically, mature women were often relegated to "hagsploitation" roles or portrayed as frail, but recent shifts show them as powerful protagonists with rich backstories.