TODD TAMANEND CLARK wrote:

Yossarian: "Superman has a female counterpart? Batman gets Batwoman..." 

BATWOMAN premiered in 1956, three years before SUPERGIRL premiered in 1959.

MORT WEISENGER more often copied JACK SCHIFF than vice versa! 



I don't see Supergirl as inspired by Batwoman.  Batwoman is a woman trying to emulate Batman--and by the conventions of that chauvinist culture, she's endangering herself by trying to do so.  The stories are about Batman and Robin (and sometimes Superman) trying to convince her to quit before she gets hurt.  And she provided a sort of love interest for Batman--Bawoman and Bat-girl seemed like much more wholesome female company than Catwoman.

Meanwhile, Supergirl is a young girl, Superman's cousin--very different.  People talk about Weisenger raided the Doc Savage mythos to fill out Superman's world, and Doc's cousin Patricia Savage is cited as an inspiration for Supergirl.  (I haven't read the Doc Savage story or stories that feature Pat Savage, so no idea if they resemble at all besides being cousins.)  Mary Marvel is the more obvious inspiration.