I think it comes down to the fact that role models are helpful in some circumstances and so highlighting an individual can be a sort of metaphor. By choosing an example of a successful woman scientist some young women will be better able to identify with the idea of being a scientist. And my blog post argues that Curie is a better choice than Lovelace.
As an example, Sally Ride mattered a lot to me (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4283227) even though I'm a man, as I wrote when she died: "RIP Sally Ride. She was a personal inspiration as a child because I saw a woman going into space as an indication of the opening up of space to 'normal' people. She was also a scientist and not a military person."
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I think it comes down to the fact that role models are helpful in some circumstances and so highlighting an individual can be a sort of metaphor. By choosing an example of a successful woman scientist some young women will be better able to identify with the idea of being a scientist. And my blog post argues that Curie is a better choice than Lovelace.
As an example, Sally Ride mattered a lot to me (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4283227) even though I'm a man, as I wrote when she died: "RIP Sally Ride. She was a personal inspiration as a child because I saw a woman going into space as an indication of the opening up of space to 'normal' people. She was also a scientist and not a military person."