Survey Finds More Women Taking Charge of DIY Around the House

A new survey shows that more women are becoming “do-it-yourselfers,” spending money and time fixing things around the house themselves—GASP—without the aid of a man.

The survey, conducted by WD Bathrooms, questioned 1,244 British women about their DIY habits. There are lots of women are becoming homeowners these days, so of course it makes sense they’re taking in an interest in home improvement. According to the Daily Mail, women are taking a bigger role in home improvement projects for a variety of reasons:

Some 60 per cent of women in the UK say they are now more likely to carry out home improvements than their partners and half consider themselves handier than men, too.The news comes as more women than ever are homeowners – single women now account for more than one in five UK households. This perhaps explains why 66 per cent of those questioned said that the materials like paint, plaster and plywood are paid for from their personal bank accounts.

[…]

The most common answer among women when asked why they had taken up DIY was that, ‘it was the only way to get anything done.’ While four in ten women said they wanted wanted to stop asking their brothers, fathers and male friends for assistance, ten per cent said they took up DIY to increase the value of their home, inspired by TV home improvement programmes.

According to the Daily Mail, these are the top ten tasks now undertaken by women:

Changing light bulbs
Changing fuses
Fixing a leaky tap
Fixing the toilet
Replacing doorknob
Patching hole in the wall
Painting
Hanging wallpaper
Sealing windows
Hanging Pictures

If we’re calling “changing a light bulb” a DIY task, then I get to count the Lean Cuisine I threw in the microwave for dinner tonight as a gourmet cooking. Most of the things on that list are pretty easy as well (“hanging pictures” should not be something you hire a contractor for, folks).

OK, so this is a survey reported in the Daily Mail. We all know their idea of a scientifically accurate survey or study is a guy wearing a blindfold throwing darts at words on a wall and calling them “findings.” But I’m sure there’s some anecdotal value here that’s worthy of a discussion. I spend more time at Home Depot and Lowe’s than I do at any clothing or home decor store. I call the Lowe’s by my house my “happy place.” Sometimes I go in there just to peruse their new backsplash tiles, day dreaming about the day when I will finally do my very own gut rehab of a kitchen. The guy who runs the paint section knows me by name and I am so proud of that fact.

I didn’t get into DIY because I didn’t marry Bob Vila (that will always be the dream, Bob. Always). I did it because it is really, really cool. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of not having to wait around for a repairman and pay a bunch of money to fix something. Plus thanks to the Internet, you can find really good step-by-step “how to”s on pretty much anything.

(Seriously if you guys ever have leaky toilet trouble, hit me up. I have MacGyvered a lot of wonky toilets in my day.)