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Quick question: Name a scientist or pioneer.

Bet your answer was a man.

"The underlying assumption when you say 'scientist' is that you mean a man," says Molly Murphy MacGregor, executive director and co-founder of the National Women's History Project, a nonprofit organization that works to increase awareness of the achievements of women in science, community, government, literature, art, sports and medicine.

"If you say 'Name a pioneer' to fourth-graders, overwhelmingly they will not talk about a woman," MacGregor says.

To change that, it's important that young girls hear the stories of pioneers such as Amelia Earhart or scientists like Rachel Carson, MacGregor says.

Aviation pioneer Earhart, who was the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, is getting renewed attention with the release on Friday of a new biopic, "Amelia," starring two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank in the title role. The film also stars Richard Gere as Earhart's husband, George Putnam, and Ewan McGregor as her friend and lover, Gene Vidal.

"You cannot underestimate the power of a role model or knowing that someone else did it," MacGregor says. "Female role models are extremely important."

And those role models don't have to be limited to historical figures, says Carla Weidman, a psychologist at the child-development unit of Children's Hospital of UPMC.

Growing up, Weidman loved reading Nancy Drew mysteries, where a strong, brave and inquisitive young woman solved the crime. Her daughter admired Princess Leia from the "Star Wars" movies.

Boys need to hear these stories, too, she says.

"It allows them to see women who can take on a very significant challenge," Weidman says. "It doesn't even matter if they're successful. What's important is that (the challenges) are not just relegated to something that boys do."

Challenging girls and young women is part of the mission at the Ellis School, a private, independent school for girls in Shadyside.

"It is what we do," says Norma Greco, the school's academic dean who also teaches 12th-grade English. "We encourage women to think critically, act as leaders and see themselves with wide possibilities in life."

To support that mission, the school brings in speakers, such as now-retired NASA astronaut Pamela Ann Melroy.

"We provide appropriate role models by bringing in women who have defied traditional roles to show that women can make changes," Greco says. "It's still a different world for women and men."

Strong women doing brave and important deeds often appear in the musicals Jason Coll writes for Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera's Gallery of Heroes program that tours to area schools.

In "Pioneers of Flight," which will begin touring schools in January, Coll features Amelia Earhart and Bessie Coleman, the first African-American female pilot, as well as male aerial innovators, such as Wilbur and Orville Wright and Charles Lindbergh.

When Coll first wrote "Pioneers of Flight" in 1997, he made a conscious effort to include women.

"It was about pioneers, and I wanted to look at every aspect of those pioneers -- black, white, male and female," he says. "The reality out there is that it's a male-dominated world in a lot of ways. Obviously, we have made great strides. But there is still a glass ceiling. ... My job is to inspire kids to know anything is possible and to want to learn."

Plenty of young girls have a quick answer when asked about a favorite hero.

They look in their own homes for inspiration. It's Mom.

Moms were the top hero choice in a youth survey by the Associated Press and MTV in 2007. Some 29 percent of teens named Mom as their hero.

That doesn't surprise Boston author Susan Reynolds. Reynolds, who grew up in Ford City and graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, penned a book in March called "My Mom Is My Hero: Tributes to the Women Who Gave Us Life, Love, and Clean Laundry."

She believes girls choose their mothers as heroes because they witness, day in and day out, how much their mothers do to love and support their families.

"These days, mothers are the ultimate multi-taskers, as many hold down a full-time job while raising a family, and their daughters watch in amazement," Reynolds says. "Mothers are the primary role model for girls, and once they grow past the teenage phase, most daughters recognize the deep bond they share and stand in awe of their mothers.

"Larger-than-life heroes inspire us to rise to greater heights, but the everyday heroes behind the scenes play a much larger role in who we become and how we live our lives. They give us the building blocks and stability that allow us to grow."

There are 82.8 million moms in the United States, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That's a lot of hero potential.

— Rebecca Killian

Born: July 24, 1897

Birthplace: Atchison, Kansas

Died: July 2, 1937, en route from Lae, New Guinea, to Howland Island

Married: Feb. 7, 1931, to George Putnam

• Earhart was called "Lady Lindy" because her slim build and facial features resembled those of Charles Lindbergh.

• Earhart developed a friendship with Eleanor Roosevelt, who wanted to learn how to fly. Earhart had planned to teach her, for which the first lady even got her student permit.

• Earhart made such an impression on the public that people often wrote and told her about naming babies, lakes and even homing pigeons "Amelia."

• The U.S. government spent $4 million looking for Earhart, which made it the costliest and most intensive air and sea search in history at the time.

• Earhart was the 16th woman to receive a pilot's license from the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (License No. 6017)

Jan. 3, 1921: Began flying lessons with Neta Snook.

July 1921: Bought her first plane, a Kinner Airster, which she named "The Canary."

Oct. 22, 1922: Broke the women's altitude record when she rose to 14,000 feet.

June 17-18, 1928: Became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic. The flight took 20 hours and 40 minutes in a Fokker F7 "Friendship."

Summer 1928: Bought an Avro Avian, a small English plane famous because Lady Mary Heath, Britain's foremost woman pilot, had flown it solo from Capetown, South Africa, to London.

Fall 1928: Published book "20 Hrs., 40 Min.," toured and lectured. Became aviation editor of Cosmopolitan magazine.

August 1929: Placed third in the First Women's Air Derby, aka the Powder Puff Derby. Upgraded from her Avian to a Lockheed Vega.

Fall 1929: Elected as an official for the National Aeronautic Association and encouraged the Federation Aeronautique Internationale to establish separate world altitude, speed and endurance records for women.

June 25, 1930: Set women's speed record for 100 kilometers with no load and with a load of 500 kilograms.

July 5, 1930: Set speed record of 181.18 mph over a 3K course.

September 1930: Helped to organize and became vice president of public relations for the new airline New York, Philadelphia and Washington Airways.

April 8, 1931: Set woman's autogiro altitude record of 18,415 feet (in a Pitcairn autogiro).

May 20-21, 1932: Became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, in 14 hours and 56 minutes, on the fifth anniversary of Charles Lindbergh's Atlantic flight. Awarded the National Geographic Society's gold medal from President Herbert Hoover, and the Distinguished Flying Cross from Congress. Soon after, wrote "The Fun of It" about her journey.

Aug. 24-25, 1932: Became the first woman to fly solo nonstop coast to coast; set women's nonstop transcontinental speed record, flying 2,447.8 miles in 19 hours, 5 minutes.

Fall 1932: Elected president of the Ninety Nines, a women's aviation club that she helped to form.

July 7-8, 1933: Broke her previous transcontinental speed record by making the same flight in 17 hours, 7 minutes.

Jan. 11, 1935: Became the first person to fly solo the 2,408-mile distance between Honolulu and Oakland, Calif. It also was the first flight where a civilian aircraft carried a two-way radio.

April 19-20, 1935: Became the first person to fly solo from Los Angeles to Mexico City, in 13 hours, 23 minutes.

Amelia Earhart left her mark on Western Pennsylvania — literally — when she made a bumpy landing at Rodgers Field in O'Hara on Aug. 31, 1928.

Pittsburgh was her second stop on a cross-country flight. Earhart left Rye, N.Y., that morning, accompanied by publisher and explorer George Putnam, whom she later would marry. After a stopover in Bellefonte, Centre County, she headed for Rodgers Field, which consisted of more than 40 acres, including land now occupied by Fox Chapel Area High School.

Earhart began her descent at Rodgers Field shortly after 6 p.m. The plane's landing gear collapsed when it hit a ditch and pitched forward on its nose. Earhart and Putnam walked away, but her plane sustained a broken propeller and damaged wing. Members of the Aero Club of Pittsburgh, who had a clubhouse on the site along Powers Run Road, repaired the plane, and Earhart was able to continue her journey on Sept. 2.

Dedicated in 1925, Rodgers Field was named for Calbraith Perry Rodgers, a native Pittsburgher who made the first transcontinental flight.

Earhart disappeared while flying over the Pacific Ocean in 1937 during her attempt to circumnavigate the globe in a Lockheed Electra. The biopic "Amelia," with Hilary Swank in the title role and Richard Gere as George Putnam, is set for release Friday.

— William Loeffler

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