Amazing ladies poll - how many of these 12 things can you do?

[Dargawn]

How many of these things can you do without assistance:

Add air to a tyre
Change oil
Change a wheel on your car
Fix a bike pucture
Put up shelving
Change a plug adhering to all safety advice and best practice
Put together a cabinet-size piece of flat pack furniture
Set up a home network
Diganose problem and mend toaster
Change element in an oven
Sort out a fuse box if lights go off
Turn off water at mains in case of leak

I can do none very confidently at the moment, but at a stretch might be able to do three.

I want to be able to do them all.

All but changing the tyre - they are always screwed on so tightly I can't loosen the nuts.

@CharlotteBog

hardly disingenuous - just because I can’t do these things doesn’t make me any better than anyone else.

My dad and grandad taught me about cars and engines, not much I can’t do with one. I have many great memories being sat in the shed tinkering with parts.

Most of the stuff on that list is basic stuff any adult should be able to do.

Even my teens can put flat pack furniture together with a few left over screws

To be fair I’d probably throw the toaster away and buy a new one as parts can be expensive.

The oven is simple enough but again I’d probably just buy a new oven nowadays

Add air to a tyre
Change oil
Change a wheel on your car
No to all 3 but I don't drive, I would learn if I ever passed test. DP recently struggled to change his tyre but the bolt had fused or something.
Fix a bike pucture
Yes
Put up shelving
Yes, used to enjoy helping drilling holes in walls when I was a teenager with my dad
Change a plug adhering to all safety advice and best practice
Nope but could Google it, again never had to.
Put together a cabinet-size piece of flat pack furniture
Yes
Set up a home network
Yes
Diganose problem and mend toaster
It would depend on the problem
Change element in an oven
Never had to, could look at a YouTube video, did help change the element in the washing machine when that broke last year.
Sort out a fuse box if lights go off
Yes
*Turn off water at mains in case of leak"
Yes, given it's just turning a tap.

Some.of these seem strange compared to others, diagnosing and fixing an electrical item and turning a tap off are miles apart. What a randomly arbitrary list.

So you don't know that most women don't know how to change the wheel on a car, or that most people wouldn't know how to change the element in an oven?

This thread must be quite eye opening for you, then.

Change element in an oven

I can confidently do all of them apart from changing an element in an oven.

But with google you can’t really go wrong.

I think some of them such as changing a tyre and turning off the water are basic things that everyone needs to know how to do.

I think changing a tyre, inflating tyres and putting oil in the car should be part of the driving test and there’s absolutely no excuse for a car driver to not know these simple things.

No one can possibly know how to do everything but if you own it and use it eg a car then you need to know the basics.
Same with knowing where the fuse box is and water stop tap is at home.

I completely agree!

If there is a leak you don’t want to spend time googling where the stop tap might be and it’s different in every home, so google can only help a certain amount.

As @jannier says, often they are so underused that they are stiff and can’t be turned.

Its better to find where it is and check you can turn it (if it’s too stiff it can snap) BEFORE needing to use it.

Everyone reading this thread should be inspired to find out where the fuse box is and water stop tap is in their own homes.
It doesn’t take long and once you know, you know forever.

Changing oil is a pretty hefty task for anyone. That's usually done during a service.

I can check oil levels and top up as needed.

I can also make humans. Much better task 😀

This thread has reminded me that there is an all-female plumbing firm called Stopcocks 😭

Is this a real question?!

Yes, of course. Can I add tiling, wallpapering, chopping wood into logs, speaking many other languages fluently, bringing up children alone...

Is this not just normal stuff???

Keep a long bit of pipe in the car that extends the length of wrench gives more leverage and you can stand on it to loosen before lifting car on jack.

cant change the element in an oven I’d replace the oven why cos it’ll be cheaper same with a toaster

I don’t drive so no need to change oil, tyre etc

the others yeah I can plus other things too

If everyone could do all these things there would be no tilers, house decorators, mechanics etc.
I think it's perfectly fine and normal to not know how to do EVERYTHING.
It's how society works - people share their skills and knowledge, either freely (parents teaching their children), for a cost (learning a language at evening school) or provide the service in exchange for something (money, a different skill).

I don't think it's particularly amazing that someone can do all the things on the list, I do think it's a bit tedious for people act surprised that not everyone can do these things just because they can.

I don't think chopping wood into logs is 'normal stuff'. I'd know who to ask if I needed logs and I earn enough to pay for them.

@CharlotteBog

Hardly my fault is it?

I answered the op’s question of what can I do…

these are my ones:

Add air to a tyre
Change oil
Put up shelving
Change a plug adhering to all safety advice and best practice
Put together a cabinet-size piece of flat pack furniture
Set up a home network
Sort out a fuse box if lights go off
Turn off water at mains in case of leak

It was "why wouldn't I be able to?" I was referring to, as if you are surprised anyone would ask such a question.

@OldTinHat me too 😂 never had the funds to pay someone to do it for me

@CharlotteBog i can afford logs however I find it very therapeutic chopping some down wood into logs - you’ll probably be horrified to know I have my lantra chainsaw qualifications too…doesn’t mean I chop down trees all the time just refused to have my husband more qualified than me.

I frankly don’t care what other people can do all I was doing was answering the op

I could do most of them if I had to. In reality I probably wouldn’t get my hands dirty - I’d call someone and pay them to sort it out. You don’t need to do things yourself if you have money.

I can certainly do 10 of these.

I've never tried to either diagnose problem and mend a toaster or change the element in an oven.

But in an emergency I'd have a go at either 🤗

@NextPhaseOfLife
Changing oil is a pretty hefty task for anyone. That's usually done during a service

I put down that I could do it because I have done it. However, thinking about it, it was years and years ago when cars were simpler and it was more normal to fix your cars yourself. I also had a friend I could borrow proper ramps from. I wouldn't change oil myself now unless I was skint. It's not exactly a fun chore.

@Dargawn

I see you're newly single.

It can be a daunting time. However, with all the skills you listed, everyone starts at zero, including men. These days, you can Google all sorts of skills and find someone's useful YouTube video to take you through each task step by step.

Also, bear in mind that many men toot their own horns a lot while doing relatively simple operations, giving the laydees the impression that what they're doing is complicated and difficult (and fishing for admiration and gratitude).

If you're worried about being stranded on the motorway, I'd advise you to get an AA membership and leave the dangerous job of changing a flat with cars whizzing past you to people who know what they're doing.

Most tyres are put on using an impact wrench for the lug nuts, and they're so tight that only a power tool would manage to loosen them, so most men wouldn't be able to manage that either. It's one thing to know how to do it, and it's another matter altogether to get it done.

I don't even know what a home network is, wifi?

I can restart a fuse box but not change fuses. Could probably figure it out.

Flat pack is ok but I only learned in the past 6 months!

Water main I made sure I know where it is in my current flat but I've never touched it.

I'm at 1.5 😂

I can do some of them.
The ones I can’t do I would take my car to a garage to do/call the breakdown company.
I top my cars engine oil up if that’s what you mean, but I take it to the garage for a full service and ask them to completely change the oil.
I don’t have a spare tyre hence using a garage/breakdown cover.
If the toaster broke dh would look at it but we would probably buy a new one.
I can do the fuse box, require a plug.
I can plumb in a washing machine,
I have always decorated my own house and can do things like:
all the gardening
plan a party for 20, buy and prepare all the food, organise games and all entertainment, do all home baking, make my own party bags, do the invites etc.
Cook my own meals, do all my own baking.
Make clothes from scratch.
Make curtains and bedding and light fittings from scratch.
Create my own floral headdresses and bouquets.
I don’t touch electrics (other than know where the fuse box is etc) I leave that to a qualified electrician.
I can entertain children too.
So all in all, I’m pretty pleased with myself.

I'm not horrified at all that you have a chainsaw qualification.

Also, bear in mind that many men toot their own horns a lot while doing relatively simple operations, giving the laydees the impression that what they're doing is complicated and difficult (and fishing for admiration and gratitude).

This. 'But, but, I mow the lawn! But I put the bins out! I hung a painting last year, remember!'

Pushing a lawnmower around is in my opinion about comparable to using a carpet cleaner, women don't get a medal and free pass from all other domestic work for cleaning carpets. Bins? Definitely not harder to grab and wheel one out than for example changing beds. Flatpack building - follow instructions. Unless you need 2 people for IKEA PAX, it's not harder than following a new recipe. But many women have been convinced that any traditionally male jobs are super hard and complex, while equivalent 'women's jobs' are nothing noteworthy.