Having a penis is great, don’t you think?

No, don’t get the wrong idea. This is a family blog. What I mean is, remember my main man, the late James Brown, when he sang, “This is a man’s world?”

Sure you do. But despite the delicious, nutritious, sumptuous and scrumptious nature of that classic — let’s be honest — it’s an outdated perspective.

Certainly in today’s more progressive workforce, women in leadership have gained in stature. Right?

Not when you look at the CEO spectrum, no.  It took me to get until number 27 in the Fortune 500 to find a company — Archer Daniels Midland — that has a woman as it’s chief executive officer. Pretty pathetic.

Yes, things have changed dramatically since the 1960s – 70s. Just have a look at an episode of “Mad Men” or watch a 1970s newscast (no, seriously, watch that ’70s newscast hyperlink). But women are, in fact, leading in business, media, and elsewhere today.

Do you know where they are also leading? It’s a place where marketers need pay great heed. It’s at home. No, I’m not talking about cooking and cleaning. I’m talking about making family purchasing decisions that were once dominated by the “man of the house.”

Tech gadgets.

The technology industry has been slow to target women because the thought process had historically been that men were the ones who were focused on the burly, mustache-friendly hardware features defining many tech products. And that is no longer the case.

That’s why I found interesting this piece from Alex Johnson of MSNBC about this week’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) having a number of sessions dedicated to mothers and their use of technology.

As the story notes, the focus essentially “demolished the stereotypes of women as technologically illiterate.” Just consider that of the 200 million-plus online casual video gamers — more than half are women.  That’s why REO Speedwagon is trying connect with its largely female fan demographic with its “Find Your Own Way Home” video game. It’s also why when my wife and I just bought a new television for our bedroom — she drove the purchase.

One graph Johnson wrote that really grabbed my attention said, “When families with children set out to buy a new laptop computer, for example, it is Mom, not Dad, who is more likely to initiate the discussion, the study revealed. And Mom is more likely to make the final decisions on what features to look for and how much to pay for it.”

The importance of this trend cannot be overstated, especially when you think about the mentality of marketers and the considerations that go into developing a strategic campaign to reach consumers.

So I guess our centuries of bliss are over. My wife will buy the next big screen television and maybe even a chainsaw.

Having a penis is, in fact, highly overrated.

I’ll live.