Where are the female Audiophiles?

Nice one, Stevecham. Thanks to you and your wife. Makes the M-F pairing seem very appropriate. More active male swaps power cord, more passive wife appreciates artistic result; the world is a better place.

One could go on with such a scenario. Emotionally-oriented wife is willing to praise power cord swapper, icing the cake with mild incredulity ("It's different. What did you do? You did _what_?") for the emotional result. Lego-oriented husband is proud of having made world a better place through electricity. Voila : emotional payoff through power cord swapping.

Shoes who needs stinkin shoes. The fact is that audio can be bought like shoes. The woman in this case need only wait until shoes go on sale as though we aren't all aware that a lot of demos aren't sold after the "show".
They do not even have to know these things. They only need to wait for a "sale, clearance etc." to get a discount on audio. They just don't care. It is not the bargaining. BTW how many ads do you see these days that simply say the price is fair (not really but that is fodder for a different thread) and firm. Further there was a well read thread espousing- any offer lower than the asking price- to be low-balling. No my fellows this is purely a matter of giving a hoot.
Shoes are important..... to them. They invariably buy them with the excuse that it was marked down and goes perfectly with some outfit. The outfit lives it's limited fashion lifespan that seems to change faster than the shoes wear out and thus the accumulation of endless pairs of shoes. Absolutely no accumulated shoe is right for the au currant (a type of berry) fashions. Unfortunately even with the use of a potent toxin there just is no shoe-diogon. That change in fashion is imperceptable to me and I wear "business attire" for my field, which isn't dramatically different than a generation back.
It is though and women are probably wondering what was wrong with the last cartridge, component, you had. Going all the way back to when she heard an early iteration.

I'd say Stevecham is onto something with the lego vs result. My wife can instantly tune out when I'm on a rant about interconnects. She will listen to music with me for hours, get emotional with Shostakovich, and notice "somethings wrong" when there's a bad pressing or recording mistake. Is she an audiophile, yes. A gear junkie, absolutley not.

During my years in high end audio, my demographics mirrored what has been said here. Clearly my customer base was 99 percent white male caucasan basically (WASP). I had two afro american customers, one hispanic, one asian and two women. I had often wondered how a business such as high end audio could attract a more diverse audience, but could never come up with a solution and here it is some 26 years later and it appears the rut is still in place.

When it came to buying Records, Tapes, didn't have CD in those days the numbers were vastly different. So the interest in music is quite universal, but the gear only appeals to the WASPs among us. This is indeed a strange phenonomen. A large buying audience with disposable income, that does not buy high end gear, but buys the music.

The two women that bought the gear, were musicians with a large local symphony orchestra as well as chamber ensemble.
If anyone can find the keys to this kingdom, it is instant overnight success. As far as my wife is concerned she has always heard good systems, but with her as well it is the music that interest her and not the gear. She can't explain it to me why that is.

This is an excellent topic and one that bugs me a great deal too. I believe single women living on their own would be more prone to be interested in a good system and seek advice. Some years back in the 80's/maybe early 90's, my wife and I had a single female friend living on her own seeking her PhD in anthropology. She loved music and asked me to go with her to a high end audio store. I did and she purchased a Rotel receiver and a pair bookshelf speakers (I can't recall the brand). BTW, her name is Elizabeth. Coincidence?