Despite women making up over 50 percent of the population in 2016, there is a disparity in female representation in film.

In the top 100 domestic grossing films in 2017, females accounted for 37 percent of major characters. This is the same as 2016, a 3 percent increase from 2015 and a historical high.

This week’s Feminist Friday will discuss this issue and will “focus our conversation on identifying positive developments for girls and women in recent films, continual representation concerns and how we can be a part of increasing representation,” according to the Margaret Sloss Women’s Center.

Sarah Chase Crosby will be presenting on this issue. Crosby is a lecturer in the English department. She has an undergraduate degree in secondary English education from Wartburg College and a master’s degree from Iowa State in English literature.

Crosby’s thesis focused on gender in Disney films, specifically “Brave” and “Frozen,” along with gendered spaces, ecofeminism and third wave feminism.

Some of her work includes “Letting Gendered Spaces Go: Trending Toward Gender and Nature Balance through Bonding in Disney’s Frozen & Maleficent” and “Weaving Queenly Duties and Womanhood: Resistance and Bonding in Brave.”

“Particularly with the new ‘Black Panther’ and upcoming ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ films, many are anticipating the increase of diverse casting for girls and women,” according to the Margaret Sloss Women’s Center, “Nevertheless, without more widespread change, girls and women (particularly girls and women of color) remain inequitably represented.”

In the top 100 domestic grossing films in 2017, females comprised 34 percent of all speaking character, major and minor.

Feminist Fridays are from 1 to 2 p.m. every Friday in the Women’s Center.