Women Design Female-Friendly Power Tools
L O S A N G E L E S, Nov. 22, 2002 -- Call them Handy-Ma'ams or Jills of All Trades. They are women all across the country who are discovering the joys — financial and personal — of do-it-yourself home repair and improvement. And they represent an exploding market, with women now accounting for 40 percent of all tool sales.
"Traditionally," said Lowe's executive Melissa Birdsong, "women have been involved in home decorating projects, like paint and wallpaper. But we're seeing an increase in an interest in doing flooring, tiling, and even doing decks."
Home Depot executive Ann-Marie Campbell says a lot women get tired of waiting for someone else to do the work. "As they become more empowered," she said, "they're able to come into Home Depot and say, 'Hey, I can do this myself. I don't need my husband or my mate to do it for me or a friend.'"
According to the National Association of Realtors, single women now comprise the second largest group of homebuyers, just after married couples. And more than 90 percent of those female homeowners consider themselves "Do-It-Yourselfers."
Female-Friendly Tools, How-To Parties
Marketers, in turn, are eager to help them do it themselves. Stores are now designed with how-to displays next to power tools and plumbing supplies. And home parties, fashioned after the Tupperware model, are proliferating — thanks to a Denver-based company called Tomboy Tools.
The president and CEO of Tomboy Toys, Sue Wilson, says the company makes tools designed for women, with rubber grips and smaller handles. But nothing "cutesy," she says. Their motto, after all, is "No Pink Tools."
"That's not what we're about," said Wilson, "we are women who are here to maintain our homes and we need real tools to do real jobs."
The bigger companies, such as Home Depot and Lowe's, are also catering to female customers, offering how-to classes in the evenings. At one such class at a Home Depot in the Atlanta suburbs, about 20 women had gathered to learn how to use power tools, from drills to circular saws.
"When I was in high school," said classmember Barbara Freeberg. "They wouldn't let me take wood shop. Because it was years ago and they didn't let girls do that. I couldn't take woodshop or drafting. But I have found a way to do it myself."
Some of the women enrolled for financial reasons. "I got one estimate," said a young woman who wanted to build a playroom for her children, "and I said 'I can do this. I can do this.'"
Her mother, who was attending the class so she could help in the project, said their husbands had shown no interest. "I think it takes a lot of patience and detail. And they'd rather go golfing."