Women Dominate The DIY World

“As far as shoppers go, females rule. What a lot of retails don’t get is that they don’t just rule in shoe stores, they rule everywhere.” Hear that, ladies? We rule! At shopping! Even in the DIY sector!

Our primacy continues even into the DIY realm. Well, provided it’s made appealing. We’ve read about big home stores’ attempts to make their stores more female-friendly, while a Patriot Ledger article references a hardware store that “recently hosted a ladies night featuring a wine and cheese tasting with local designers and decorators on hand to assist female patrons with color choices and decorating questions. All attendees received a free, recyclable bag filled with do-it-yourself gifts.” Another Home Depot “held a “Do-It-Herself” workshop earlier this fall, focusing on kitchen remodeling projects and color consultations.”

Whether these, ahem, measures are necessary is an open question: apparently DIY is on the up anyway, thanks to the economy and a raft of home-improvement shows that make it look easy — or like it can be with enough equipment. But all this aside, are hardware stores addressing the real issue — beyond pink tools, how are they treating the customer? Back when we wrote about True Value’s woman-friendly overhaul, I was struck by one commenter’s question:

Are the salespeople trained to see women as people capable of doing household repairs? That’s a major factor in where I buy products – if the salespeople try to sell me an overpriced screwgun when I need a plain old phillips screwdriver, they’ve lost the sale. They’ve also lost the sale if they overprice items made for smaller hands, or market all items for smaller hands as children’s tools. Seriously, folks, a woman who wears a size 6 glove is NOT A CHILD. She’s an adult with small hands who has a lot more strength than a child, and who will snap tools made for children.

Might go even further than wine and gift bags!

Handy Women: Females Rule Do-It-Yourself Home Projects [Patriot Ledger]

Remodeled True Value Store Woos The Women [LA Times]
Woolworths Targets Women For Hardware [News.co.au]
[Image via Shutterstock]