A generation from now, the first half of the 21st century will be looked upon as the era in which women finally achieved a balance of power in boardrooms, legislatures, universities and other centers of influence.  Mark it down, it is going to happen.

Already women hold the power in most consumer purchasing decisions.

Female purchasing power dominates in the obvious places such as grocery stores, drug stores and malls. But they also control the market for cars, durable goods and homes.

The force that is going to guarantee a fundamental shift in power is the rise of women in the "brain race." Forty years ago men received 57 percent of all college degrees awarded in the US and women received 43 percent. Today the numbers are reversed. In advanced degrees, the story is even more compelling. In 1972 women received 44 percent of graduate degrees. This year they will receive 60 percent.

The challenge (in reality, the opportunity) for every institution of size is to get ahead of this curve.  Those organizations that do a better job of recruiting and advancing women will have an enormous competitive advantage in the not too distant future .

As notions the traditional family are challenged, marketers find they must represent multiple viewpoints in their media.  When Honey Maid launched its “This is Wholesome” campaign, which included a gay couple, interracial couple, and tattooed father, the company received some backlash. In response, the company took the negative reaction, printed them, and took the printed paper to respond with the word “Love.” More at USA Today.

As the 2014 mid-term elections heat up, political strategists will attempt to use every tool at their disposal to win as many seats as possible.  In part this will include targeted advertising and tailored campaigning. One highly sought after demographic is unmarried women, who tend to favor Democrats.  Consequently, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is building a national computer model to predict voters’ marital status, with hopes of targeting more of them.  More from the Washington Post.

It is a common trope to claim that 50% of American marriages end in divorce.  Supposedly the divorce rate actually began to decline in the 1980s, but it turns out it hasn’t.  While it may have flattened, new research shows that age-standardized divorce rates have actually surged 40% since then. Read more at the Washington Post.