Female characters in children's programs

The big news lately is that Sesame Street has introduced its first female leading character. The controversy is that she is very "girly"--a pink and sparkly fairy princess. What I haven't heard discussed is how ridiculous it is that this is Sesame Street's first female leading character.
Here are a couple of short NPR stories on Abby Cadabby:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5641456
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5638389
The person interviewed in the first story comments on the controversy over the "girly-girl" character, say that "Creating characters for girls is the 'challenge of trying to write so that they're reflective of girls and their character, but also are strong and smart and funny.'" This bothered me tremendously because, while I am not a creator of children's programming, I believe that if anyone created a character reflective of my daughter and her character, it would, by definition, be strong and smart and funny.

The lack of female characters in general, especially those in leading roles--whether they are "girly" or not (if you haven't guessed, I am increasingly annoyed by that word)--has bothered me for some time and even more lately. At RB's age she is just beginning to construct a gender identity--she described herself to me as a girl for the first time last week, in the context of trying to get everyone in their proper categories--Mommy and RB are girls and Daddy is a boy. She's learning right now what it means to be a girl. And in the majority of children's books and television shows, what she is being shown is that male is the default gender. The lead characters in children's books and shows are almost always male, and if the lead is female, it is packaged as a "girl's" product, not one that might appeal to all children. I had read about this issue long before I had a child, but I have still been surprised as I have been exploring it myself.

In addition to the lack of female characters in general, so many of the most popular and beloved Disney films are based on an inherently sexist marriage plot. And I don't mean just the ubiquitous princesses, whom I have not yet allowed to infiltrate my home--Lady and the Tramp, The Aristocats, many adorable little animals engaged in the same process as Cinderella and The Little Mermaid.

I am not rejecting these images wholly. In fact, I see an advantage to watching these programs with her, allowing her to enjoy them, but also using them as a vehicle to provide the language to ask important questions and challenge limiting stereotypes as she learns how to be a girl. But I want to balance these with positive images of active girl and boy characters so that she does not, at this crucial stage in her development, learn that male is the right gender and that boys are somehow more active, more powerful, more human, than she is.

I think that Disney's Jo-Jo's Circus, starring a girl clown but not a "girl's show," does a good job with this, and I also appreciate Little Einsteins. A couple of times Little Einsteins has referred to the white male child as the "leader," and he pilots the rocket, but in most of the episodes, I see none of them standing out as in-charge. The team of two boys and two girls work together equally, which is important because RB has already begun to identify herself with the girl characters, especially the blonde girl, Annie, who looks the most like her. Of course, I have yet to see them feature any female artists or composers in their episodes, but RB is too young to realize that.