The Arts Council recently got a phone call from Connor Snyder, the woman who played “Nurse Abel” on the old M*A*S*H TV show. She’s very active in helping children learn about acting and was calling to see if there would be interest in this area for an after-school workshop. She mentioned that in addition to having been Nurse Abel she has also been a writer/producer for HBO.

That same day I received an email from one of this season’s artists, Jill Anderson of Omaha. In it she was commenting on the shift taking place in TV programming. She mentioned that practically every show on HBO and other cable channels is now about a strong and intelligent woman “who faces serious challenges and obstacles and succeeds in one way or another.”

Women are portrayed a lot differently today than in the days of M*A*S*H and this of course reflects their changing role in society. In the old days independent women like Mary Tyler Moore were the exception. Now they’re the rule.

Lori and I had the good fortune to have lunch last month with Jane Heany who has strong ties to this area. She now works with the NU Foundation and started our conversation by saying very proudly “We’re taking over!”

She was referring of course to women and went on to explain that since women outlive men, affluent older women are now responsible for 4 out of every 5 major charitable contributions. Thus, organizations that promote women’s values and priorities are being funded like never before.

And while being the focus of cable TV shows and our society’s primary philanthropists may not technically constitute “taking over”, consider that without widespread and increasing intervention to boost male graduation rates, 2 out of every 3 college graduates today would be female. And the trend of more women completing their education than men only seems to be accelerating.

This is going to have a major influence on the business world. Already women make up half of the workforce. But despite their equal representation, during the current economic crisis only 20% of lost jobs have been women’s.

Some of this is due to the fact that fields such as construction, manufacturing and finance — male dominated fields — have been the hardest hit. And some is due to the fact that women are still paid less than men, making the higher-paid males the first to go. But it’s also believed that women’s values have a lot to do with this. Author Catherine Kaputa recently pointed out that women’s management styles are more collaborative, and this is proving important in holding things together during trying times.

In previous columns I’ve discussed criticism of the Women’s Movement; some authors assert that women have had to sacrifice their “femininity,” adopting masculine values and aggressiveness in order to compete with men. But as layoff rates are showing, feminine values are proving their worth. Women’s talents are proving valuable in keeping businesses together.

With women graduating at twice the rate of men, their influence in both politics and economics will only grow.

And it isn’t just in America where women are exerting a greater and greater influence on society. This past summer’s uprisings in Iran and western China against oppression and injustice have been led by women (and violently put down by men). On the economic side, Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his innovative and successful practice of making micro loans to impoverished women in Third World countries (the practice has now even spread to Omaha). Women in all parts of the world are starting their own small businesses, and families are rising out of poverty as a result.

There is a “Pink Revolution” taking place around the globe. Women are impacting society like never before. And as my father once observed, “This is a good thing. Women can’t do any worse than we men have, and may well do considerably better.”

In talking with the UNL architecture students — many of whom are women — I’ve tried to stress that in envisioning the future of this area we all need to consider the importance of women. Women most often make the decisions as to where their family should live and are on track to outnumber men in many professions. By thinking about women’s concerns — childcare, schools, healthcare, churches, eldercare and green spaces — we can make our communities more and more attractive to professional, entrepreneurial women, women who will do much to help us “re-pioneer” tomorrow.