Gender in speculative fiction
The first known female superhero is writer-artist Fletcher Hanks's minor character Fantomah, an ageless, ancient Egyptian woman in the modern day who could transform into a skull-faced creature with superpowers to fight evil; she debuted in 1940 in Fiction Houses "Jungle Comics".
Squirrel Girl
Squirrel Girl (Doreen Green) is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Her first appearance was in "Marvel Super-Heroes" vol. 2, #8, a.k.a. "Marvel Super-Heroes Winter Special" (cover-dated Winter 1991), in a story plotted and drawn by Steve Ditko and scripted by writer Will Murray. Her ability to communicate with squirrels is surprisingly effective and has allowed her to defeat major supervillains. She joined the Great Lakes Avengers, but left to move to New York City, where she served as nanny to Danielle Cage, the daughter of Luke Cage and Jessica Jones. In her solo series, the character splits her time between studying computer science at Empire State University, and fighting crime both solo and as a member of the Avengers.