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For centuries, men have been asking themselves, "What do women want?"

Now, with the historic presence of a top-tier female candidate for president of the United States, political strategists are asking the same thing.

The answer, however, might not be as complicated as everyone seems to think, according to female voters, activists, elected officials and strategists.

A survey released this month by EMILY's List — a national organization dedicated to electing female Democratic candidates who support abortion rights — polled Democratic female voters in Arizona, Georgia and New Jersey, and found that for those supporting Hillary Rodham Clinton, gender is not at the top of the list.

The poll found while Clinton is viewed favorably by 85 percent of female primary voters surveyed, their reasons for supporting her had less to do with gender and more to do with experience and qualifications.

Women, the researchers found, want the same things as men — but if the candidate is a woman, breaking the ultimate glass ceiling is a major plus.

Tucsonan Ruth Davis, a long-time active Democrat who is supporting Clinton, says she decided on her candidate only after heavy research. For Davis, who supported John Edwards in 2004, gender was not at the top of the list.

"Do I feel that I have a connection with her? Well, certainly," said Davis, who, like Clinton, is 60. "I certainly feel a connection as a female to her, but that is not what is making me support her — although it's nice to have it."

And in that respect, pollsters found Clinton is benefiting from the excitement many women are having about the prospect of seeing her elected as the first female president.

Thirty-seven percent of women said making history was more important to them than nearly anything else. But 68 percent also said being a woman would have no effect on Clinton's performance, positively or negatively.

"I think you always want to go with the most experienced candidate," said Dana Kennedy, a Democratic strategist who runs a candidate school in Arizona for women and supports Clinton. "She's qualified; it's just better that she is a woman."

Clinton's bid for the White House may be a historic move for the country, dovetailing on Nancy Pelosi becoming the first female speaker of the House earlier this year, but Arizona has a long history of electing women.

Even today, Arizona remains one of the most progressive states in the country when it comes to electing women to office. The state has the fifth-highest number of women in its Legislature nationally, according to the Center for American Women and Politics.

Thirty-one of the 90 members of the Legislature are women, and a dozen are Republican women.

Last year, Gov. Janet Napolitano was re-elected to a second term, and Gabrielle Giffords become the third woman in Arizona history to be elected to Congress.

But the phenomenon is nothing new. Arizona is the state that produced Sandra Day O'Connor and elected Isabella Greenway to Congress in 1933.

"We do know in Arizona that voters like qualified women candidates," says state Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, at 31 the youngest woman in the Legislature.

Many said that Arizona's libertarian attitude has contributed to women rising to power here.

Not all women place a premium on gender, as indicated by the survey by EMILY's List —the acronym stands for Early Money Is Like Yeast.

Sinema, who likes the idea of having a female president, doesn't think Clinton is the most qualified candidate for president. She's supporting New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson instead.

"The reason I chose Bill Richardson was not because of gender. I chose Bill Richardson because he is far and away the most qualified person in either party who is running for president," Sinema said.

And ultimately, ideology trumps gender.

While strategists are anticipating that Clinton might attract some support from Republican and independent women if she wins the Democratic nomination, count state Sen. Karen Johnson out.

"I have no shared experience with her; she kills babies and everything else," said Johnson, a Mesa Republican who is co-chairing Ron Paul's campaign and calls President Bush a "dictator."

She called Clinton "probably one of the worst representations of a female politician, because she is absolutely a socialist."

The workplace struggles women still face are exacerbated in political life, many say.

Sacrificing family life for a career, a focus on appearance, being careful not to appear overbearing or shrill — women have to walk a cautious line men that are immune to in politics, they contend.

During Southern Arizona's 2006 congressional race, the front-runners in the Democratic primary were two female candidates — Giffords and Patty Weiss.

When the two clashed at debates over issues or experiences, the male Democratic candidates and their campaign staffs were quick to label it a "catfight."

"Women who engage in that kind of thing are seen as shrill or having a catfight, whereas a man doing it, he's hard on the issues," says Carol Zimmerman, a Democratic strategist. "Women don't have the same range of behavior that's acceptable that men do."

They also may need to decide between family and public life.

It's not uncommon for men with small children to serve in Congress or be elected governor, but women are often single, childless or their children are adults. There are exceptions, such as Regina Romero, a Democrat elected to the Tucson City Council last week and the mother of a young child.

And strategists say, as exemplified by Clinton's focus on children and families in her campaign, women's issues can be redefined outside of the classic feminist issues of abortion and equality in the workplace.

Even with the struggles women face, they're not alone in mounting heavy scrutiny, says Kennedy.

"Women candidates, they face a lot of challenges … but so do men," Kennedy said. "If a male candidate cried, sometimes he could be viewed as in touch with himself, but there would be some who would scrutinize that as not tough enough."