In 2023, a survey of 902 American women asked them about their experiences with home improvement — at hardware stores, with contractors, and on their own. The results were striking. Not surprising, but striking.
What the survey found
Three in five women said they feel treated differently by contractors than men are. One in five said they felt judged when asking for help. Sixteen percent said they had been made to feel stupid.
At hardware stores, nearly 40% reported being treated differently. The most common experiences: being ignored, being talked over, being directed to a simpler product without being asked what they actually needed, or being told — explicitly — to let someone else handle it.
One woman described being told at a hardware store that she should let her husband handle a simple hammering project so she would not hurt herself. It was for a basic wall hook.
The deeper number
Perhaps the most revealing figure: 27% of women said they do not feel comfortable being alone with a contractor in their home.
That is more than one in four women who must weigh, every time something needs fixing, whether to invite a stranger into their space. That calculation has a cost — not just in anxiety, but in decisions. Some repairs get delayed. Some do not happen at all. Some women pay for services they did not need because they did not feel confident enough to question the quote.
What the survey also found
88% of women surveyed own a basic toolkit. 78% already unclog their own drains. 72% feel confident doing home repairs — once they have done them. The confidence is there. The first-time experience is the barrier.
And 63% said they would actively prefer to hire women-owned businesses when available.
What this points to
The gap is not ability. The data does not describe women who cannot fix things. It describes women who have not been given the information in a form that works for them, who are routinely condescended to when they seek help, and who have found their own solutions when left to it.
She Fixed It exists for that 72%: the women who are confident once they have done it. The manual covers eight common repairs with clear, jargon-free instructions and photos — written for someone doing it for the first time, not someone being talked through it slowly.