The world's biggest movie website IMDb (Internet Movie Database) has adopted a new 'F-rating' to highlight films that are directed by women, written by women, or pass the Bechdel test - feature a conversation between women that isn't about men.

The accreditation, which aims to support and promote women and redress the imbalance in the film industry, has so far been added to over 21,000 titles on the website, making it easier for users to search for films and TV programmes which feature women in a significant role.

Among the films credited are "Girl on the Train," which was directed by Erin Cressida Wilson, "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes," which was written by Anita Loos, and 2016's "Ghostbusters," which has 36 scenes which pass the Bechdel test.

A film, TV programme or book is said to pass the Bechdel test if it features scenes in which two or more women talk to each other about something other than a man or boy.

"Bridget Jones' Baby," "Frozen" and "Burn Burn Burn" are among those to receive a triple-rating for featuring a female director, writer and lead.

IMDb becomes the latest film organisation to feature the rating, which was created in 2014 by Holly Tarquini, director of the U.K.'s Bath Film Festival. It has so far been adopted by 40 cinemas festivals across the U.K., including London's Barbican.

Women accounted for just 3.6 percent of all directors and 4.4 percent of all writers in the top 250 films of 2015, according to statistics from f-rated.org, the website set up to promote the organisation.

"It's always exciting when new organisations decide they want to join us in shining a light both on the brilliant work women are doing in film and on how far the film industry lags behind most other industries when it comes to providing equal opportunities to women," said Tarquini in a press release.

"But our real goal is to reach the stage when the F-Rating is redundant because 50 percent of the stories we see on screen are told by and about film's unfairly under-represented half of the population: women."

The announcement comes ahead of International Women's Day on Wednesday 8 March, which is held annually around the world.



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