It’s a man’s world? Hardly. Especially when it comes to the gadgets and gear that drive the booming consumer electronics industry.

Women are all about tech these days, with 75% preferring a high-end cell phone over designer shoes according to a survey by market researcher TRU for the Oxygen Network.

Diamond necklace versus a plasma TV? The gadget won hands down by a similar margin. And a whopping 90% of those in the "Girls Gone Wired" survey said they'd take a media center PC over a pair of flashy shoes.

When it’s come to tech, women are often tagged by their role as a family’s “Chief Memory Officer” – scrapbooking photos, mementos and family history via digital cameras, PCs, DVRs and digicams.

It’s also been pretty obvious that women wear the financial pants in the family when acquiring electronics and other items. Call her the “Chief Purchase Decision Maker” for everything from junior’s GPS cell phone to two-figure home theater systems.

That should create a whole lotta clout for the fairer sex with electronics manufacturers and their ad and PR experts. But many in the industry, including the CEA, acknowledge that women have long been overlooked. All the more amazing when you look at the TRU data.

But even women sell themselves short it would seem, with 59% of those polled by TRU saying “Women are much more tech savvy than they give themselves credit for.”

Consider this a wake-up call for marketers and other comms professionals. Overlooking women is one thing, but equally unforgivable is pandering to them as tech lightweights.

Big mistake.

It’s time to not only reassess women as a target audience, but also to be smarter about how we actually speak to them. From girls and moms to boomers and seniors, women are a complex and multi-dimensional group.

Oh yeah, and they get gadgets better than a lot of guys.

The bounty is high for companies that welcome women into the consumer tech fold as the wise, discerning and influential buyers they are.

There are throngs of these folks waiting to attach to brands that realize being female-focused means more than being female-friendly, it’s also being female-smart.