Today is Ada Lovelace Day. This is a truly magnificent enterprise, organised by Suw Charman-Anderson, in which more than 1,000 people have signed up to write a blog post about a woman in technology whom they admire. Suw was inspired to found Ada Lovelace Day after hearing female friends in technology say that they felt disempowered and invisible.

Ada Lovelace herself is widely recognised as the world's first computer programmer; born in 1815, her friendship with Charles Babbage and her understanding of his difference engine and analytical engine have given her a lasting legacy. But, as Suw rightly points out, one historical role model isn't enough. It's important for girls and young women to see that there are a lot of women making careers in technology.

And in fact, inspirational women in technology are everywhere. From games designers Elonka Dunin and Jane Jensen to Turing award-winners Barbara Liskov and Frances Allen to influential CTOs Mary Lou Jepsen and Padmasree Warrior, women have been making high-level careers in science and technology for a long time now.

My feeling is, though, that upping the profile of these role models is only half the battle. While real women have been racking up technological accomplishments, the portrayal of women's scientific prowess in fiction still lags behind. And fiction can play a crucial role in teaching young women what life choices are acceptable.

I vividly remember a storyline in the Australian soap opera Neighbours from my teenage years. "Plain Jane Superbrain" (played by Annie Jones) had a crush on hunky Mike (played by Guy Pearce, later to star in Memento and LA Confidential). But he didn't notice her – what was she to do? The answer, of course, was a make­over and … to flunk a maths test. Once Mike came top in maths, with Jane following demurely in second place, the path was clear for them to fall into each other's arms. The story's ridiculous, of course, but as a teenager I remember having earnest discussions with other girls about it: was it really true? Did men not like clever girls? Ought we to try to appear less clever?

Now this was 20 years ago, but things haven't changed as much as I'd like. I love Doctor Who passionately, but the dynamic of it remains that Billie Piper, Freema Agyeman or Catherine Tate wander around after a man who knows a lot about science, needing to have things explained to them. Heroes may have Hayden Panetierre's gutsy cheerleader character, but all the science is done by men: Mohinder and Chandra Suresh. And the central premise of the heinous US sitcom The Big Bang Theory is that geeky boys know about science whereas pretty girls know about clothing and manicures. Hilarious.

It's time for the creators of fictional scientists to catch up to the modern world. As Ada Lovelace Day shows, there are a lot of women out there doing incredible work in science and technology; it's time fiction reflected that.