One of the biggest argument against Campbell's archetypal theory is exactly that--his hero in the hero's journey is most definitely ALWAYS male. I believe he might have stated once or twice that it works for female heros, too, but then half his theory is thrown off if you plug in a female protagonist. Maybe he ran into the same problem you did--few female stories. But I would question what you mean by few female heros in archetypal lit. Folk tales are full of them. And if you look especially at the folk tales that the Grimms and Perrault overlooked, you'll find female protagonists doing very female things: valuing community rather than hierarchy, focusing on family relationships rather than the prize of riches, etc. Maybe they just don't fit the archetypal mode because that mode is based on what the male-focused tales typify.
So I would
love to hear what you might have to say on the female version of the hero's journey, or at least a revised version of the hero's journey including women. I think archetypal is my favorite school of critical thought, yet it irks me sometimes.
As for manipulation and control, EUOL, watch out that you don't end up using it in a Robert Jordan-esque way, if that's the route you take rather than sword-wielding women. I can't tell you how annoyed I get with those women (and the men, too, but more so the women) trying to manipulate everyone and everything, especially with lack of communication. I still say all the good guys needed was a good correlation meeting once a week, and they wouldn't have had half the problems they had. Of course, I must admit that I am a control freak, too, and (much as I hate to admit it) RJ's got a point--the female half of the source is controlled by surrendering control. Sometimes women focus so much on control that we have to remember that we can't control everything.
I think it's good for female characters to be free to be physically strong, able to wield a sword or whatever if needed, but also that it's important to have them be able to embrace the things that make them feminine.
And MoD, I don't remember any love triangle in Hero and the Crown.
Have you ever read any of McKinley's retellings of fairy tales? She wrote Beauty in 1978, and retold it as Rose Daughter just a couple years ago. She also did a Sleeping Beauty called Spindle's End. All very good.