Well if this isn’t a telling headline:
Women Knock Down ‘Do-It-Yourself’ Wall
As more single women become homeowners, they are empowering themselves with power tools. Hardware stores have come courting.
Note the use of “single women.” Because married women apparently have someone to do it for them.
The lead:
Catherine Reynolds makes needlepoint pillows and a mean cherry pie. She can also gut a kitchen, knock out a wall and build a patio.
“Some projects are difficult,” the 38-year-old schoolteacher said, “but it’s not rocket science.”
This is funny, see, because this lady makes cherry pie and does needlepoint, meaning that she’s “feminine,” and it’s totally unfeminine to knock down walls and build things, and yet she’s doing it anyway. Now there’s a cover story if I’ve ever seen one.
Reynolds — who is remodeling her fourth home — and other women are strapping on tool belts, plugging in power saws and tackling projects head-on. It’s not just because men are bonding with their Barcaloungers. In many American homes, the man of the house doesn’t exist.
More breaking news: Many women are single.
Unmarried women bought 21% of all homes sold last year, or 1.76 million properties, according to the National Assn. of Realtors. That’s up from 14% a decade ago. (Single men, by comparison, accounted for 9% of the market last year.)
Ok, I’ll give it to them here. This is really interesting.
It’s a noteworthy change, given that as recently as the early 1970s, it was tough for a single woman to secure a mortgage.
Let’s say it all together now: Thanks, feminism!
Read More…Read More…