This week I begin an occassional series where I ask an author, marketing executive, politician...or consumer to join me on the blog for a chat.

Today Andrea Learned discusses her growing interest in "solohood." This trend goes by many names. Just a few decades ago, we still used the word "spinster" to define women who had actively chosen not to be married. Then it was the "single woman."

But "solohood" fits better because for one thing it's not gendered. It also comes with few roles and stereotypes--it's a blank slate upon which we can write new ways of living. Plus it allows everyone in from young women who are choosing to not marry--although they may be in committed long-term relationships--to widows and divorced women.

For marketers, "solohood" is a huge opportunity. But only if they get the idea that these women--and yes men--require a different attitude toward them. The world is no longer one big happy nuclear family--no matter how much some people try to take us back to a time that frankly most historians think never really existed. Today the concept of family is expanding--and that's a great thing.

So welcome Andrea, author of "Don't Think Pink." You can catch her blog at http://learned.typepad.com/.

FW: Not too long ago, single women were painted with the brush of "spinsterhood" if they hadn't married. Today, solo women are growing force in the economy and society. What is driving this shift from "singlehood" being a negative to solo being such a positive?

AL: Solo women are newly empowered. We have the choice to not marry or simply marry later. Divorce rates are higher (for a variety of reasons), and women are no longer rushing to remarry. And, rather than resigning themselves to traditional, isolated or inactive widowhood, women who lose their husbands in their more senior years are now more actively living the extra 7-8 years of life they tend to have over men.

Today, self-reliant single women can more easily climb a corporate ladder, commit to as much higher education as they desire, and basically live lives full of experiences for themselves. They are not waiting for "Mr. Right" in order to get on with life. They buy homes at almost twice the rate of single men, and they have no problem traveling alone. Though it is by no means fun, solo women have more of the support and tools to raise kids alone, as well.

Read the rest of interview. I know in the blogosphere this is a long blog--but Andrea has great things to say about the myths of single women and the brands that are beginning to understand "solohood."

FW: Do you think companies get the idea of solo women? If so, what industries are doing the best job and who still hasn't gotten it?

No, I don't think companies understand solo women very well. When companies start to think about marketing to women more effectively, their first thought seems to be "moms," which definitely makes sense to some degree because almost ¾ of adult women are moms. However, just as the business world has narrowed its focus from "all women everywhere" to "all women who are wives/moms," it can also take a closer look at the influential solo women segment as well (some of whom are also moms, of course.)

In their recently published book, "What Women Really Want," pollsters Celinda Lake and Kellyanne Conway note that one-third of American women are unmarried, forming their number one trend for women: "singular sensations." How these women buy and choose to live has an influence on the gamut of product and service sales, as well as politics and more.

But that one-third of women - the consumer group that makes or influences the purchase of 80% of consumer goods in the U.S. today - are having trouble finding brands that understand them. With children or without, unmarried women are driving sales in industries from residential real estate to home repair, travel, financial services and beyond.

As I survey solo women across the country, Trader Joe's grocery chain, with their natural food leanings and smaller portion packaging, is often mentioned as a favorite. In the financial realm, Women's Financial Network www.wfn.com was among the first to focus on women, and it now offers a variety of what are called "S.T.E.P.S." programs, including two that specifically address "dealing with divorce" or "losing a spouse."

Retirement community developers are beginning to provide more creative/community-based living options for an aging population that is increasingly female.

We are still awaiting the day that the car or boat salesperson, for example, doesn't look over a woman's shoulder to find her husband. There aren't, as yet, that many brands that have really dialed into this particular segment of the women's market. But, the smart ones should be studying up on solo women and their new definitions of family, healthier lifestyles, spiritual pursuits, and general life empowerment.

FW: The rise of the single women isn't an American phenomenon. It's a global sensation. Can you give some examples of countries where solo women are breaking the rules of their societies?

AL: Japan is a big one. They have a higher percentage of single women between 20 and 40 than the U.K. or the U.S. A commonly used term for single women in that country is "wagamama," which actually means "selfish." But these women embrace their independence and self-focus, and are slowly re-defining wagamama to mean more empowering "choosy." Citigroup, a brand that has been at the forefront of marketing to women in the U.S., is also really tapping into the single women's market in Japan.

If the ways of the U.S. still lead other westernized cultures, my guess would be that single women greatly affect consumer trends in cities from Stockholm to Paris to Santiago. I will definitely be doing more research on this.

FW: Do you believe single women recognize their power?

AL: Younger single women may recognize their power and use it, because many of them were raised by working or more independent moms, who were themselves transitioning from the ways they learned from their own traditional mothers. So, younger women could easily see the "newer" ways of women and men – and not be stuck in old "rules."

However, older Baby Boom and mature/senior solo women grew up in such different times that their habits of behavior more likely stem from living in a more patriarchal society. As I've talked with solo women who are 40+, however, I have really seen evidence of a gaining momentum toward greater independence in life, work, travel and beyond.

FW: What is the biggest myth about single women? Two I can think of are that these women "hate" men that we can't get someone to marry us...maybe, just maybe, we like being single!

AL: You are right – that seems to still be the biggest myth. In general, unmarried women today are in no way sitting at home alone, thinking "woe is me." The opposite seems to be true. On the whole, the solo women I'm talking with now, and those interviewed for recently published books like The New Single Woman, by E. Kay Trimberger, QuirkyAlone by Sasha Cagen, as well as the one I mentioned earlier, What Women Really Want, expressed contentedness, if not full-on happiness, in their largely thriving lives of rewarding work and experiences.

Friendships or relationships with men are in and around these women's lives in all the usual ways, definitely, but there is less and less of a drive to partner up. Even women who are in long-term relationships of some sort, are choosing to maintain separate households, for instance, in order to keep their cherished independence. Women are staying single by choice, and choice is not a negative or anti-male thing.

The tide has simply changed, and while men may still thrive when they are married, studies have shown (again, as reported in What Women Really Want) that "women tend to be happier and more successful and live longer when they're single."