Why is it so important though that their media role models be animated?

Animated films get ideas into a child's mind "through the backdoor," if you will. Yes, there are real live women out there who are great role models. But not everybody notices that.

But having the idea of a woman as strong, independent, and able to chart her own path in life, and slipping it into a child's subconscious through animated entertainment gets the idea in without anybody pointing it out. It also gets the idea in in spite of nobody pointing it out. A parent who doesn't believe in equality may ignore the message in the cartoon because it is a cartoon.

(That's my opinion. Here's a grain of salt.)