achievement gap

I was at a conference in Washington D.C. this past weekend, doing a presentation about leadership with two women I work with at our university. We started with talking about stereotypes of leadership, then moved into discussion about famous leaders. We asked people to yell names out, and we got the usual subjects. "FDR!" "Nelson Mandela!" "Malcolm X!" "George W. Bush!" Last one aside, I can understand why the people mentioned came to mind-they're great, inspiring, inspirational men . I eventually said to the group, "I'm a little upset about the gender slant we have here-aren't there any female leaders anyone can think of?" And the responses included Oprah, Evita Peron (isn't it really Eva? I thought the Madonna movie made it 'Evita'), Mother Theresa. And that was all. And I couldn't help but think that I am failing, that feminism is failing, that our educational system is failing women.