'Hero' has a somewhat immature connotation to it and I don't think much of the current generation really subscribes to the notion of 'heroes' unlike before the internet age (or thereabouts), when 'childhood heroes' was genuinely a thing (and even that generation has, for the most part, grown out of it). The article and the OP both indicate 'role model' which is a better reflection of what public figures should be to youngsters and even adults because of the pedestal that the label of 'hero' creates, and enough people have managed to have others build the pedestal beneath them only to be knocked off it later on for various reasons. Words are such a tricky thing in this day and age.
Anyway, my views concerning why it seems men tend not to have female 'heroes' or 'role models' (whichever term you wish to place on it) are an incoherent mess, so I won't air them here. But for me, some instances have already been mentioned (e.g. Ada Lovelace, Anna Komnene & Marie Curie) and lesser instances can be found in Hedy Lamarr & Artemisia (at least what we know about her) but the biggest case for me is:
Rosalind Franklin with the accompanying four words: fuck you, James Watson. (You're a brilliant biologist, but you're such a dick.)
Life Story is a great film, but it really underplays how much of a self-absorbed prick he was/would become. As for Rosalind Franklin, in popular science, she isn't credited with most of the legwork that got Watson, Crick & Wilkins the Nobel Prize (hell, in the key paper, her and Gosling's work isn't even cited). Screw the no-posthumous awards, it's one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard of, and it wasn't even a 'rule' when it was relevant for Franklin. The final kick in the balls (no pun intended, it literally was the first expression that came to mind) was that her subsequent work after leaving King's for Birkbeck... led to another Nobel Prize based on a foundation of her work (all credit due to Klug, however). That she was able to do what she did with that utter dump of a laboratory at Birkbeck (her equipment at King's during the early days was considered to be not much better) is beyond comprehension for research scientists these days, and without exception, her doctoral students became brilliant (or brilliant and famous) scientists in their own right (granted, given her age at death, she didn't have that many, but being a PhD supervisor at her age while coordinating a research group going down two distinct routes, churning out half a dozen Nature worthy papers a year while weighed down by ovarian cancer for part of it deserves at least something). She died at an age at which Crick only just got his PhD, for crying out loud. The final tragedy was dying the day before Expo 58.
USA
