I'm not at all so sure of that. I think there are a lot of leftist women that do hate men. They would relish the chance to figuratively flip off the male establishment and would vote for any woman in a heartbeat - just because they could. It would be a real dilemma for them if 2008 were say Kerry vs. Rice to decide whether to vote for the leftie or the woman.
Among more conservative women, I think there are those who are more comfortable with a male in charge.
There are others who would vote depending upon which represented the lesser of the evils on the ballot. condi vs. any democrat or even some male 'centrist/RINOs' like McCain, Hagel, etc and I'll vote condi in a heartbeat. Do I think she's the most conservative or even the best nominee - not necessarily - I haven't made up my mind. I'm just using names as examples.
I'm a very conservative woman. The gender of a person matters not one whit to me. But by person, I mean beings with a capacity for reason. When they obviously lack that capacity, I call them bipedal mammals. Gender does not matter. Dr. Rice, Secretary of the Interior Gail Norton, George Bush, Karl Rove - persons. Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, Mary Landrieu, Kathleen Blanco - bipedal mammals.
I don't really have a gender preference, and I can't honestly say I would prefer a man in charge. I want a person in charge, and being an empiricist, it is my observation that there are more persons in a group of ultra conservative white men than in a more mixed population. If this makes me either a racist or a sexist, I'll wear that badge with pride.