In the early days, there was actually a fair amount of diversity. In a field dominated by male authors, some significant female pioneers include the four-time nominee Frances Goodrich (“The Thin Man,” 1934; “After the Thin Man,” 1936; “Father of the Bride,” 1950; and “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,” 1954) and the three-time nominee Claudine West (“Goodbye Mr. Chips,” 1939; “Random Harvest,” 1942; and “Mrs. Miniver,” 1942, for which she won). Most notable of all, Frances Marion was the first person — male or female — to win multiple writing Oscars, with trophies for “The Big House” (1930) and “The Champ” (1931), following a prolific career during the pre-Oscars era of silent film.

Over all, in the first decade of the Oscars, 13 percent of writing nominations went to women, a level that wouldn’t be reached again until the 1980s. It’s important to note that this early diversity was entirely due to the presence of women and did not extend to minority screenwriters. Incredibly, the academy did not nominate a single nonwhite writer until 1973, when Suzanne de Passe (“Lady Sings the Blues”) and Lonne Elder III (“Sounder”) simultaneously broke that barrier.

The overall level of diversity reached a low point from 1957 to 1969, when just eight of the 228 writing nominations went to women, and none to minorities. None of those eight women won the Oscar. From that point, the trend has slowly reversed, Since 2011, 24 percent of writing nominations have gone to women or minorities; that figure never topped 19 percent in any previous decade.

This data set can’t determine whether the rising diversity is due to changing hiring practices in Hollywood or whether the academy has gotten better at nominating people of all backgrounds, or perhaps some of both. What we can test numerically is how the academy compares with its peer organizations.

The two most notable screenplay awards outside the Oscars — as well as two of the best predictors of the screenplay categories — are handed out by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and the Writers Guild of America. By 1985, they had both switched over to the modern format — two screenplay categories, one for original and one for adapted — so we’ll use data since then to compare all three organizations.

The result: all three are nearly tied: The Oscars and WGAs have both nominated about 1.5 percent more diverse screenwriters than the Baftas. The American academy can claim the lead on rewarding these storytellers: 19 Oscar winners since then have come from outside the group of non-Latino white men, compared with only 13 at the WGAs and nine at the Baftas.