In my books, women often solve the problem. Even if the woman is not the hero, she's a strong character. She does change the plot. She'll often rescue the male character from some situation.
“In the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, our nation has been put under considerable fiscal pressure.”
“She's leaving when the president has one of the highest approval ratings on record. From here, it can only go down. And when it does, you know who they're going to blame. They're gonna blame Andy Card!”