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

I still remember when I was a budding feminist, and a man thought there will be a 'gotcha!!' moment, when he asked me to describe in detail how to change a wheel. He didn't get his gotcha, honestly do men think it's a challenging task? If you have instructions, it's easy. If you've seen it once, it's a piece of piss. Most women do a million more challening things every single day.

It amazes me when either men or women cannot paint walls/ woodwork to a decent standard and just do not try to learn but then complain about getting it done. Or similarly not be able to do basics like change a light fitting, trim a hedge, cook a meal, bake a cake, sew, CPR etc. just basic life/ maintenance stuff.

I think painting woodwork to a high standard is quite different to cooking a meal.
I have done it myself, but prefer not to use my free time on these things. So I pay someone. I absolutely do not complain about it though and I get a bit fed up with people implying I'm lazy or whatever for not doing it myself. We have our own lines. Patio the garden? Clean the gutters? Board the loft?

I wouldn't be more amazing if I put up a shelf, I'd probably be fed up.

Air to tyre - yes.

Change oil - no, I get this done, and the dirty oil gets properly disposed of. Air filter replacement otoh, yes, and also auto light bulb replacement and replacement of wing mirrors.

Change wheel - no, I have AAA (US) for emergencies like that.

Bike puncture - yes.

Shelving - yes, and also painting, drywall installation, mudding, and repair, cabinet installation, furniture stripping, sanding, and restoration/ painting/ repurposing.

Change a plug - irrelevant in the US.

Flat pack furniture - yes. I even do it for flummoxed friends.

Home network setup - yes, following instructions.

Mend toaster - no way. Just buy a new one. Much safer.

Change element in oven - I have taken out an ignition in a gas oven and sourced and installed a replacement.

Fuse box - yes, and can also do the much easier tripping of a circuit breaker.

Turn off water at mains - yes, right tighty.

Also - correctly use jumper cables for dead battery, and clear any printer jam.

Bollox to that list. Who the fuck decided these parameters of amazement?!

How does being able to carry out a traditionally masculine task make a woman 'amazing', exactly?

FUCK. THAT. SHIT.

I just ate a Tunnock's Snowball whole to minimise coconut fall-out and so I had my hands free for holding a book.

I add that to my own list and officially declare myself amazing!

Yes to this!

Also, whistle up Hallowe'en costumes on October 31st using only found items / fabric already in the house, create meals out of fridge leftovers, pack for a family of seven for ten days away with two expected climate tyoes...

All exept for the toaster - who actually fixes theirs?? and the oven... but have replaced the seal on my old one, does that count?

I do think changing a tyre and flat pack furniture is easier with 2 people...

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

I can and some of my female friends can too. It's really not difficult. As long as the nuts are not too tight although I have a nice long strong wrench just in case.

I once lived on a building site and kept getting punctures so rather than wait for help which might have taken an hour or so I just did it myself. It's really simple to do even if there are wheel locks etc. the only problem is that it's dirty.

It's important to be able to do it for safety reasons. Why wait at the side of the road for hours when you could sort it out yourself.

Not much good if you don't have. Spare though 😭

Add air to a tyre No, but I don't drive
Change oil As above
Change a wheel on your car Also as above
Fix a bike pucture yes
Put up shelving tes
Change a plug adhering to all safety advice and best practice yes
Put together a cabinet-size piece of flat pack furniture yes
Set up a home network I think so
Diganose problem and mend toaster never had to, but I'd have a go.

Change element in an oven never needed to
Sort out a fuse box if lights go off yes
Turn off water at mains in case of leak yes

6, but could probably do others with a YouTube tutorial.

Who changes plugs now? They're always moulded aren't they? I don't think I've ever even needed to change one since I was around 20 - and that was 30 years ago.
I don't drive, no way would I bother mending a toaster they cost about £20, probably cost more than that to fix. I also wouldn't mess around with an oven.

I can flick the switch on the fuse box and turn the tap to switch the water off though, so all good in an emergency 😁.

Tyre I would struggle - I have jumped up and down on a spanner and it wouldn't budge to unlock the wheel nuts

Flat pack - sometimes just is a 2 person job

Well, there's a hell of a difference between fully understanding how to do things on this crazy list, and actually being able to do them. Changing a wheel can be impossible if some gorilla has done the wheel nuts up too tight, so I'm a failure if I'm not strong enough or heavy enough to undo them? Bollocks! Toaster not working? My diagnosis: throw toaster away. Who the hell sells toaster spares? Change an oven element? Maybe, but looking in my oven it would need to be completely dismantled. I don't have the time or the inclination, although I bet I could do it. Actually I took out a warranty so some guy is going to fix it for me. Now isn't that amazing!

✅️ Add air to a tyre
Change oil - I can add oil but not change it. It's covered in the annual service anyway.
Change a wheel on your car- hypothetically but my car has no spare tyre and the tightness of the bolts and weight of wheel are likely to be an issue anyway.
✅️ Fix a bike pucture
✅️ Put up shelving
✅️ Change a plug adhering to all safety advice and best practice- but it's rarely needed these days. I could change the fuse if required.
✅️Put together a cabinet-size piece of flat pack furniture
✅️Set up a home network
Diganose problem and mend toaster- if it can't be solved by turning off at the wall and removing the bread, I'd get a new one.
Change element in an oven- not a common problem to have
✅️ Sort out a fuse box if lights go off
✅️ Turn off water at mains in case of leak

For bonus points, I'm pretty adept at tiling.

If in doubt, there's usually a youtube tutorial.

One of the big issues in traditionally gendered roles is that "blue jobs" don't tend to need doing often. The "pink jobs" tend to need doing daily/ weekly. Plus there's huge amounts of barely recognised mental load. Somehow it's often easier to learn to take on the "blue jobs" and hard to delegate out an even proportion of the "pink jobs". It's easier to pay people to take care of the occasional "blue job" too. There isn't really anyone to outsource remembering clean PE kits to.

Seven. But I don’t care how amazing you are, putting up a shelf is a two person job if you want it to be straight. And who the hell mends a toaster?!

I can do half of those. I can also:

Fly a glider
Juggle
Ride a racehorse
Play the bass guitar
Put the bins out
Unblock guttering
Edit and splice cine film
Solder
Fire an air rifle

Is there a similar thread asking the menz whether they can empty the hoover, change a toilet roll, wipe a baby's arse, cook a roast dinner for 17, remember the birthdays and anniversaries of everyone in the entire extended family, know term dates, book an afternoon off work so they can go to the school sports day, plait long hair, understand phonics, sew ribbons onto ballet shoes, organise dentist and optician check-ups, know their kids' shoe sizes....

'Blue jobs' and 'Pink jobs'?

Fuck that load of outdated gender-biased bollocks.

And no, unless you are qualified, then you shouldn't be buggering about with the insides of your toaster. Not unless you want your house to burn down round it.

Those are all far harder than the original list, as you can't just follow instructions with those, you have to use your brain and your imagination - much harder!

So this is my list. It's mine. Full of things that I am not confident doing - nothing weird about it really, just stuff in every day life that has broken on me or jobs that have occurred and it got me thinking since becoming recently single if there are women out there (sorry if the 'ladies' reference offends, it really wasn't done on purpose) who are bossing such every day tasks, and that - if there are - I'd highly respect and admire them for doing so.

I'm sorry if this list is not as you would like it, or if it is too random or doesn't make sense to you. It is drawn up from my very regular experience of every day things and life.

Feel free to move along to another chat room if you find yourself questionning the sanity of my post or my list. It was just meant to be a bit light hearted fun and also at the same time quite enlightening - and not designed with triggering in mind.

Finally, am 'lolling' at the those of you dismissing the tasks on the list as being as irrelevant as 'opening a door', 'boiling an egg', or whatever mundane task you think rivals fiddling with a fuse box.

Becauase, despite seeing my friends and family opening plenty of doors and also talking about boiled eggs and soldiers plenty of times over; I have never once in my entire life seen a woman on the side of the motorway changing a tyre.

Rarely (but not never) do I see them checking air pressure at the garage. Furthermore, I cannot recall the time when a female friend relayed a weekend of buying, unpacking and putting together a new wardrobe from Ikea - without the help of her significant other half or relative to lend a masculine hand.

And I never seem to get into the ins and outs of fuses, ballcocks or 'which colour is earth' over a glass of wine on a Saturday night, when I'm discussing events of previous weeks with buddies.

Is that just me?

As other people have mentioned, there is a big difference between thinking you know how to do it... and actually doing it. I have a feeling there are many talkers and not many genuine walkers on this thread who are flexing. Just because so many are dismissing it as no big deal, when it is. The fact I'm aiming it at ladies (sorry women) is because I am one. I don't care if someone's husband can or cannot do it because it means nothing to me. But for the record fewer and fewer men are supposedly able to put shelves up - I know plenty. But like I said, I don't need to know that.

All of them because A) I am an adult and B) I have access to YouTube. Without YouTube? All except the oven and the toaster and I'd have to look up the safety thingys for the plug. And the last time I tried to change a tyre I had to run bf the AA because I wasn't strong enough to undo the wheel nuts. I can't TELL you how annoying that was!!

All of them if necessary.

That's what the internet's for!

Although I wouldn't be messing around with a toaster. That's a replace item.

@Mumoftwo1312 "Why is a woman only amazing if she can do stereotypically masculine tasks?"
Are they stereotypically masculine tasks? Aren't they just tasks?

@Mumoftwo1312 "Can you remember everyone's current shoe size, clothes size, requirements for a special school event, deadline for signing up to xyz, and to wash the football kit in time, all while working your ordinary job?"

They are amazing. Are you saying they are women's jobs?

I suppose really the amazing thing is knowing how to find out how to do things if you don't know.

2 of them- air to tyre, water off- but I can extract a tooth