Today, brains are thought to give women the same gravitas that penises gave men in the past. With the ubiquitousness of Blackberry personal organizers and laptop computers as symbols of power and social status, these electronic instruments have supplanted the penis, both in ordering the thinking of our individual leaders and creating that international connectedness that in the past a penis alone was thought to provide.

Now, unlike penises, when cell-phones ring in the bathrooms of the United Nations, they serve to bring leaders together wherever they are, regardless of their gender.

Because old habits die hard, the question is still asked, "Can a leader govern without a penis?" With the prominence of women such as US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and US Senator Debbie Stabenow in this country, as well as women heads of state in Chile, Ireland, Latvia, Finland, Liberia, the Philippines, Israel and Germany, the answer is coming back loudly and clearly that, yes, a leader can govern and govern well, even without a penis.