None, because women are doing it for themselves, after all, who needs men when women are strong enough to take their place?

Yes, we can, says Maureen Dowd, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist.

In her latest, most controversial book, Are Men Necessary? The New York Times columnist makes a case for women to take over the world and rule it alone.

Her argument? Women are now so powerful that they can do everything men can, from flying to the moon to running huge multinational companies. Perhaps even better than them, because they've got the added benefit of being more empathetic, preferring consolidation, not conflict. Dowd writes: "In the year 102,005, or 10,002,005 at the latest, they'll finally have our fair share of female network anchors, female priests, female columnists, female Supreme Court judges, corrupt female CEOs and philandering female presidents. And we'll run the world in our own way, of course.

Whoa, back up a minute, you say. Are you sure women can do everything men can? How about peeing standing up? Or producing babies on their own? Surely women need their sperm to reproduce? Actually, we might not. The evidence? In 2004, Japanese scientists created baby mice without using sperm. Human research may soon be in the offing - so there goes men's usefulness then.

Eventually, Dowd says, women are going to cotton on to how women don't need an Other Half to make them whole.

The men are doing a good job of getting rid of themselves all on their own too, with their testosterone-filled angst driving them to suicidal activities like solo mountaineering or waging wars. If their fun and games aren't wiping them out fast enough, their genes will. The Y chromosome (the one that makes them testosterone-ridden creatures) is degenerating fast and if this trend continues, this little bit of DNA will go out of business in about 100,000 years.

It's scary stuff - especially if you're male. Which explains why, when excerpts from Dowd's book were run in the New York Times Magazine, the article became its most e-mailed feature. Men, of course, were the most upset. "Will someone please marry Maureen Dowd?" asks one letter writer. "She has managed to spin her inability to find a suitable mate into a national crisis."

But women were up in arms too. "I thought that men would be scared of the book, but it's women,"

Dowd tells CNN. Women apparently didn't like the idea of a world without men as much as the men did.

You'd think that the women would be whooping at this demonstration of ultimate girl power but they all sound adjust as panicked at the prospect of a man-less world. The men fell over themselves trying to justify their existence. If men weren't around, who'd open that tight jar lid or step on the big cockroach?" A single guy has nothing to fear, though.

As Dowd teasingly tell men: "Now that women don't need men to reproduce and refinance, the question is, will women keep you around? And the answer is, you know women need men in the way women need ice cream - you'll be more ornamental."

Ah, sex - the biggest argument for preserving the species. Yet, Dowd thinks that women can do away with men, even for coitus. She argues that we achieve orgasm on our own rather than with a man, which means we don't really need them to satisfy our baser instincts.

But her proclamations don't factor in the sheer pleasure of bonding with another human being. Yes, today men aren't necessary, in terms of societal roles. But, if human beings continue to be sexual beings, they would still need sex, even if it is no longer for reproduction. Isn't sex for pleasure already happening now? Only if the world is populated entirely by lesbian, non-bisexual women would men be out of a job. There's the rub: Without men, where would we get our sexual pleasure from?

Woman need to make love to a real man. Nothing can replace that, not even a super vibrator. How the tables have turned. It wasn't long ago that women were seen as useful only for sex. Now, it seems like if men outlive their usefulness, women still keep them on for the same reason - as sex objects.

It sounds empowering, but also sad. Surely there's mote women appreciate in the other sex apart from, well, pure sex?

Lesbian doesn't need men to satisfy her sexually because so it's not all about sex. Without men, who would we pit ourselves against? I don't want to be fighting among my own kind. It makes sense. Women need men as a foil. Plus, women need them to take on roles that women don't take on. Women have progressed so far that they're capable of taking on any task a man can do.

Women have made some historic miscalculations. They started out totally dependent on men. Then they thought they could be totally independent from men by imitating them - dressing like them, jousting for that big office and those stressful jobs. But once women got far enough along to see that they could achieve male status and power, they recoiled at the idea of doing it on male terms. Why are rats on a treadmill, butting heads constantly, drinking too much? Having heart attacks and falling into affairs with office playthings?

Feminism has liberated those of us who prefer such pursuits to be able to take them on. But some of them would rather leave these things, like pushing the buttons, to the guys. We've proven to the world that we're capable of holding high-profile careers. But there is still the feminine side - which needs tender, loving care.

Men's very existence reminds us that woman.

Besides, not every woman loves clawing her way to the top. That's testosterone-fuelled behaviour, which men derive a lot of satisfaction from.

With males around, we can leave that to the boys and choose the things we really like best in our jobs.

Women need the testosterone-fuelled egomania that drives the pursuit of grandiose empire-building, self-congratulatory enthusiasm for the arts, and minutely incremental scientific progress that pushes our society forward. Women need men because they're stubborn and they never listen.

So what are men good for then? Scaling mountains, changing the baby's diapers ... but above all, reminding us that we are women, feminine and different from them. Besides, it's always good to have someone else to blame if things go wrong