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.

I could do probably all of them, following youtube videos. I'm not sure I would change the element in our oven because it's built in and it would be horrendous getting at the back. I have changed the bearings in a washing machine, fixed the pump in a tumble dryer, replaced the thermostat in a fridge, changed the dvd drive in a WiiU, replaced screens, batteries and hard drives on various phones and laptops, replaced a tap, fixed a car window regulator and various other repairs to the house and car, and to be honest none are really difficult.

The difficulties are things like having the right tools, knowing how hard you can force something without breaking it, being strong enough or heavy enough (once tried to change the tyre on a car back when I was skinny and even jumping up and down on the wrench with my whole weight I couldn't undo the bolts, I needed help for that), having space to do it.

Just find a decent video that will talk you through it, or a good book with diagrams, take photos of what it looks like before you start and progress photos so you can remember which bits go where and which way round when you reassemble everything, and invest in a good magnetic mat or divided tray to keep track of all your screws and washers and things. And good lighting! When something is fiddly to put back together you don't want to be doing it in the dark. And sometimes a marker pen or labels so after working out which stopcock is for which tap/appliance/room you can label them for next time.

I probably couldn't do any of those (physically disabled).
But I can run a household which includes 2 disabled YP.
I can cook, clean (ish), deal with paperwork. Motivate people.
Many other things.

None of those make an amazing woman.

Oh & my YP & I learned how to fix our boiler when it died for 10 days.
I googled it. they got the spanners. Very proud of all of us.
ps I am not a Lay-dee, I'm a woman :)

All

I think they're good things to learn, but I don't want to do any of them!

Add air to a tyre - do this regularly and made sure DD knows how to as well
Change oil - have done in the past but these days I get it done at the garage
Change a wheel on your car - an essential skill for all drivers and I taught DD when she got her car too
Fix a bike puncture - haven’t done this since I was a teenager but think I can still manage
Put up shelving - definitely
Change a plug adhering to all safety advice and best practice - did this just last weekend
Put together a cabinet-size piece of flat pack furniture - can do but DH and I usually do it together as it’s safer (weight wise) to do it with two
Set up a home network - did my neighbours quite recently
Diganose problem and mend toaster - never tried
Change element in an oven - I’ve done this, but it was literally a case of turn off at mains, un “plug” old element “plug” in new element, turn on at mains.
Sort out a fuse box if lights go off - any adult should know how to do this
Turn off water at mains in case of leak - everybody should know where their mains water stopcock is

This isn’t a list for females it’s a list for adults! A lot of them are what I’d consider very basic skills TBH

I could:
Add air to a tyre
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

The others I see as jobs that are sensibly outsourced. I could check and top up oil, but I wouldn’t attempt to change (and my car gets serviced annually so would be weird if this was needed outside of that cycle).

I’d probably replace a broken toaster, and get someone out to fix the oven.

I could maybe attempt a bicycle puncture repair as I assume the repair kit comes with instructions, but I’d ring AA/mechanic to change a car tyre, but my car doesn’t come with a spare so I have absolutely no reason to learn how to do this.

I am the higher earner in my house and earn enough that we can outsource these things though, which is an achievement in itself.

It is a bit of a weird list.

Have done all of those except change the element in the oven or sort out the toaster. I mean I dream of owning a classic dualit toaster that you can swap parts on, but my cheapo one just keeps on going, so there is no need.

FWIW I can also debone a chicken, put the bins out and use a telephone to communicate with people by speaking and listening. Get me.

I can do 6 things on the list.

However I can also:
Sew clothes/curtains
Bake a four tier wedding cake
Cook the cuisine of four different countries
Plan and cook a dinner for 24
Sand and repaint a garden deck
Grow my own vegetables
Research, analyse risk and choose stocks and shares for a successful investment portfolio
Make a logical and coherent complaint, explaining the issues and setting out the expected outcome of the complaint
Successfully contest a fine from a cowboy private parking company
Study for a PG qualification, work a 4 day week, run a household and care for family with a terminal diagnosis, all at the same time

I would say that the breadth of what a female can do, surpasses, in general, the narrower sphere of what males can do. This is certainly the case in my personal experience.

I can do 7. The electric ones I wouldn't be confident in and I can't change a tyre (due to back pain (

All of them. I was single for a long time and couldn't afford to outsource any of it. Started with Haines manuals and progressed to you tube.

Is there an equivalent 'amazing gentlemen' list that involves tasks men are not traditionally considered good at?

Ok, so this is MY list and what I think is amazing so go you if you think that changing a tyre is akin to boiling an egg or opening a door.

Personally, I don't know ANY woman who can change a tyre. And, FWIW, the AA does not come out to tyre failures so if you're on the hard shoulder of the M5 with a flat, you're stuffed. Or, they have a policy that excludes them from the obligation of attending to a flat.

In fact, I don't know any woman that can do half of that list. So, saying stuff like 'it's 2024' like there are women out there up to their pits in car oil is just rubbish. YOU may be able to do it, but I don't even think in 2024 the average man knows how to do it.

More likely a woman from 1948 would know how to these things due to their resourcefulness during the war, so 2024 has nothing to do with it. We're getting more useless not more practical.

Pretty much all of them. Lived alone for quite a while so had to learn!

Exactly! Stupid bloomin' poll! I'm not even giving my answer!

Personally, I don't know ANY woman who can change a tyre.

Hi, I'm Terry, pleased to meet you. Now you do. And you know who taught me, my mum.

And many breakdown services will change a tire. I think Halfords will come out! I know because I worked for one.

Nope. Not a single one!

All of them. I've also taught DS10 to do some of them as well.

That's nothing to be proud of.

The only ones I would/can do myself are adding air to tyres, setting up home network, sorting fuse box and turning off water at mains. They’re the sort of things that may need need doing immediately, all the others I either pay someone to do or I wouldn’t do.

I’m not interested in learning to do them all. I aim to do the least amount of jobs like this as possible. I also pay someone to do our cleaning, ironing and most house maintenance because I have zero interest in doing those things. Life feels more ‘amazing’ for me not having to do a list of jobs I’d find boring.

I was about to say something along these lines as well.

The list for women? That';s what youtube or Trust a Trader are for. The stuff that women do all day every day? That's specific and unique to each and every family and arguably a very great deal more important.

IMO of course.

I can do nearly all those things but I'm an engineer by career and make a point of being able to do practical things. The oil change I've never done but would look it up and have a go.

A great many men can't do those things either, wouldn't even have the tools. I agree with PP it's perhaps an indication of age as even a generation ago people tended to be much more self sufficient, work on their own cars, do DIY etc, because working class people couldn't afford to get people in all the time. I grew up in a family like that.

I can do them all - my DH has no idea how to turn off the water or even where the stopcock is. He also can’t change a plug and has no idea about cars. I grew up as an only child with my mum who taught me everything and my grandfather always fixed his own cars and taught me from age of about 10 how to look after them.
when we have to buy tools or do diy DH leaves it to me as I know more than he does!
i have passed all my knowledge to my kids now so they can be self sufficient

5, except now that the garage machine-tightens wheel nuts I would probably struggle to get a wheel off.