Women’s portrayal in the media has come a long way. We have fighting scenes between strong female warriors in movies like “Black Panther,” and women are being given the opportunity to play lead roles in movies such as “Wonder Woman,” which grossed $821 million worldwide. Though there is still a lot of work to be done, women are as big and bad as they’ve ever been.

Representation in the media is incredibly important in providing the audience with cultural ideas and values. Whether consciously or not, we accept what we see on T.V. and in movies as what is happening around us. If women were still being as underrepresented in the media as they had been before, people would completely undermine the great accomplishments made by women in real life.

Thankfully, as society changes and becomes more accepting of alternatives for women’s lives, so do the media. We’re seeing women not only fight, but also win. We see women contributing financially to their households, and their husbands contributing to domestic duties. This change in representation hasn’t taken away from male roles, but instead gives women more relatable figures. It’s allowed for directors and producers to take different approaches to female characters.

Though film is better at widespread informing, television is especially sensitive to changes in society. In television shows of the 1950s, women were perceived in the media as beautiful wives who never left the home. There weren’t many women going to find jobs or being anything more than a supporting character.

Even shows like “I Love Lucy” played it safe with a charismatic married character. Today, however, women are portraying stronger, more dominant roles. In shows like “Black-ish” and “The Cosby Show,” we have women playing doctors and lawyers instead of housewives.

There are also shows like “The Nanny” and “Will and Grace,” where women don’t have to be married at all. Women no longer have to feel locked into the position of supporting a man’s dreams.

Unfortunately, there’s still a long way to go before equal representation is achieved in the media. In 2016, women accounted for only 32 percent of speaking characters in top-grossing films. This may be because women started in very small roles in the media compared to men, so female roles still need to catch up with the development male roles have had.

These strong female roles are important. Little girls want to go to the movies and turn on their televisions to see female role models. Women want to know their hard work isn’t being overlooked, and they want to see they can be more than domestic workers and sexual figures. They can see they are hardworking, highly represented women that deserve recognition.

Chantelle Baker is a 21-year-old communication studies senior from Waipahu, Hawaii.