At the polling place on Election Day, my friend Shirley told me that I should write more about women.

She was right.

In the post-election analysis, most attention has been focused on Hispanic-American voters. Relatively few of them voted Republican, while they served as an overwhelming source of support for President Obama.

Their numbers are steadily growing, and they are expected to be a major factor in growing Democratic majorities unless the Republicans decide to begin recruiting them. Texas, currently a solid GOP state, is expected to shift party domination within a decade, because of Hispanic voters.

All of this focus on Hispanics has missed an even more important demographic in recent elections.

Politically, women matter more than men. It’s a simple as that.

They are 51.5 percent of the voting age population. And a higher percentage of women vote than do men.

Most women vote for the Democrats. That’s true for the last six presidential elections.

In other words, there are more women than men, they vote more and they favor the Democrats.

And all of this has little to do with whether they are white, black, Hispanic, gay or straight. In almost all groups, a majority of women support the Democrats.

Women are better educated. More of them complete high school than men, though men lead them in GEDs. And more are now getting college degrees than men.

Formerly, post-high school education of women was mostly about becoming a teacher or nurse. Now about half of business related bachelor’s degrees go to women.

Many women are now the head of household as single moms or simply living alone.

In the household, even with a man around, they are likely to be the person who deals with health, housework, routine shopping and child care, all of which gives them a markedly different perspective on economic issues from men.

And many more are in the work force, either because they are the sole household breadwinner or because of being in twoearner families. The working woman is now norm, not the exception.

But, in general, they earn less pay for the same work. And they know it.

And they live longer, though with increased work force participation the gap between women and men seems to have narrowed a bit.

They are not single-issue voters, influenced, for example, only by candidates’ views on abortion.

Bringing up children and aware of the services that government provides or supports, most believe that government has a significant role to play in the areas of health and welfare. As a result, they worry when they hear pledges to cut public spending on social programs.

When government spending is debated, many women are able to visualize the effect in their lives of deep cuts in social spending.

To them, saying that such current spending amounts to “socialism” verges on the ridiculous.

Right now, the single most important issue dividing the parties is the role of government. If spending is reduced on education, child care, health and income support, women would feel the pain far more than men.

Single mothers rely on childcare. The growing ranks of female single heads of family need more child care, supported by government or through the tax system.

And because women live longer than men, it is no surprise they are concerned about proposals to reduce access to Social Security and Medicare.

What about birth control and rape?

Clearly, the wholesale attacks on Planned Parenthood, because it may provide abortions, worry some women who use it for other health services.

But far more important than the idiotic theories of a few male GOP candidates on rape — too irresponsible to bear repeating here — is the dismissive attitude shown by some Republicans toward women.

Recent political statements by men about birth control or rape are more than insensitive; they dismiss women as if they know nothing and their essential concerns have no merit.

One relatively mild but muchnoticed sign of the GOP’s dismissive attitude came when Mitt Romney, the party’s presidential nominee, explained how he had sought women for state office, when he was elected governor of Massachusetts. He reviewed “binders” full of resumes submitted by a women’s group.

Clearly, he himself had no female friend, colleague, or supporter who he would consider for public office.

Of course, there are Republican women and women who support the GOP.

But the Republicans may be in long-term electoral trouble if they cannot appeal to more women.

This year, New Hampshire became the first state to have only women in top state and federal posts. Four out of five are Democrats.

And, of the 11 women elected to the U.S. Senate this year, 10 were Democrats.

GORDON L. WEIL, of Harpswell, is an author, publisher, consultant and former public official.