For generations, the hammer and the wrench have carried an unspoken gender assignment — but that assumption is quietly being dismantled, one social media post and career change at a time. In the United Kingdom, women are entering trades and DIY spaces not as exceptions but as a growing presence, driven by economic necessity, digital inspiration, and a desire for work that is both tangible and their own. The shift is still modest in raw numbers — women remain just 4% of the construction workforce — yet the direction of travel is unmistakable, as younger generations rewrite the inherited story o
Women are reshaping DIY and trades, defying stereotypes and inspiring a generation
We're sick of waiting around for six months for our husbands to pick up the tools
Mark
So what's actually changed here? Is this just influencers, or is there real structural shift happening in the trades?
Mimi
Both. The influencers are real—Jasmine has hundreds of thousands of followers—but the platform data is concrete. TaskHer's enquiries doubled in a year, and tradeswomen signups quadrupled. That's not just visibility; that's demand.
Luke
Quadrupled from what baseline, though? If TaskHer had ten tradeswomen last year, forty this year is still a tiny number in a country of 67 million.
Mimi
True, but the direction matters. And the apprenticeship numbers are official—one in ten versus one in fourteen is a measurable shift in who's entering the field.
Mark
Why are women leaving office jobs to become plumbers? That seems like a step down in status, at least in how society sees it.
Mimi
Bliss and others cite flexibility, autonomy, and the fact that trades feel more resistant to AI displacement than desk work. You can't automate a plumber showing up at someone's house.
Luke
But we should note that's speculation about AI-proofing. Nobody actually knows how AI will reshape trades in ten years.
Mark
What about the resistance they face? Bliss being mistaken for a receptionist—is that still common?
Mimi
She says it happens, but once she demonstrates competence, customers accept her. The bigger issue Anna raised is systemic—five years ago, you couldn't even find stock photos of tradeswomen. That's changed, but it shows how recently women were literally invisible in the industry.
Luke
The 4% figure is important context. We're talking about real growth, but from a very small base. Women are still massively underrepresented.
Mark
So what happens next? Does this momentum continue?
Mimi
That depends partly on visibility—both online and in apprenticeship programs. If more young women see women doing this work, more will try it.
Luke
And on whether the industry actually welcomes them, not just tolerates them. Visibility helps, but culture change is slower.
The Pulse
- A generation of women raised on social media is watching other women build, wire, and plumb — and deciding they can do the same, with 82% of Gen Z women saying online content has directly inspired them to take on complex home projects.
- The demand for female tradespeople is outpacing supply so sharply that platforms like TaskHer have seen enquiries more than double in a single year while the number of tradeswomen available has barely kept pace.
- Women entering trades still face quiet resistance — customers who expect a man, autocorrect that erases the word 'tradeswoman,' and stock photo libraries that didn't include them until recently — small frictions that add up to a message of not belonging.
- Career switchers, including Oxford graduates and former office workers, are choosing trades for their flexibility, physical satisfaction, and resilience against automation, signalling that the pipeline into these professions is widening from unexpected directions.
- Apprenticeship data offers a cautious but real signal of change: one in ten new construction apprentices is now a woman, up from one in fourteen five years ago, suggesting the sector's demographic floor is slowly rising.
For generations, the hammer and the wrench have carried an unspoken gender assignment — but that assumption is quietly being dismantled, one social media post and career change at a time. In the United Kingdom, women are entering trades and DIY spaces not as exceptions but as a growing presence, driven by economic necessity, digital inspiration, and a desire for work that is both tangible and their own. The shift is still modest in raw numbers — women remain just 4% of the construction workforce — yet the direction of travel is unmistakable, as younger generations rewrite the inherited story of who belongs in the workshop.
Walk into any hardware store and you can feel the shift. Over the past decade, DIY content on social media has redrawn the map of who picks up a drill or lays a floor — and women are increasingly both the creators and the audience reshaping that map.
Jasmine Gurney, a 33-year-old former marketer from Bedfordshire, has torn down walls, insulated lofts, built cabinetry, and moved plug sockets — all documented on Instagram, some of it done while pregnant or with her firstborn strapped to her chest. Eight months into her second pregnancy, she is racing to finish a fitted wardrobe before the birth. When people online question her methods, she says it only drives her forward. Her page found its first audience during Covid lockdowns, when people couldn't hire professionals, and it has held that audience since — because tradespeople remain scarce and the cost of living keeps pushing people toward doing more themselves.
The generational data is striking. A 2024 B&Q report found that 75% of Gen Z women enjoy DIY, compared to 60% of women overall, and 82% said seeing women tackle complex projects online had inspired them to try more themselves.
Some women are going further than inspiration — they are switching careers entirely. Bliss Cunneen left a university course in 2020 to train as a plumber and now, at 28, calls it the best decision she ever made. She has faced customers who arrived expecting a man, and once was mistaken for a receptionist. But she has found that competence, once demonstrated, tends to settle the matter.
Anna Moynihan founded TaskHer after her own renovation experiences left her frustrated — tradesmen would speak to her husband rather than her, and the word 'tradeswoman' would autocorrect to 'tradesman' on her own computer. The platform connects female tradespeople with customers, and its growth has been rapid: enquiries have more than doubled this year compared to 2025, while tradeswomen signing up have nearly quadrupled. In the past month alone, three Oxford-educated women joined. Many are drawn by flexibility and by work that feels resistant to the disruptions of artificial intelligence.
The overall picture is still modest — women are just 4% of the UK construction workforce. But one in ten new construction apprentices is now a woman, up from one in fourteen five years ago. As Moynihan puts it: 'You can't be what you can't see, and anything that shows women and girls that they can do something is fantastic.'
Walk into any hardware store and you'll see the shift happening in real time. The DIY content flooding social media over the past decade has redrawn the map of who does home improvement work—and it's no longer a male-only domain. Female influencers are building wardrobes and treehouses and fence posts, documenting it all for audiences hungry to learn. Meanwhile, women are leaving office jobs to become plumbers and electricians, and platforms designed to connect female tradespeople with customers are seeing demand spike faster than supply can keep up.
Jasmine Gurney, a 33-year-old from Bedfordshire, exemplifies the shift. The former marketer has torn down partition walls, replaced flooring, insulated lofts, built custom cabinetry, and moved plug sockets—all while documenting the work on Instagram. She's done it while pregnant, done it with her firstborn strapped to her chest in a carrier. Eight months into her second pregnancy, she's racing to finish building a fitted wardrobe before the new baby arrives. When people online question her techniques or suggest she shouldn't be doing this work, she says it spurs her on. "I'm showing and empowering other women to do it," she explains. "I've shown me doing things whilst pregnant, I've had my firstborn strapped to me in a baby carrier while doing things. I'm just showing that we are capable, we are interested in this sort of stuff and... we're sick of waiting around for six months for our husbands to pick up the tools and do it in most cases." Her page gained traction during Covid lockdowns when people couldn't hire professionals and had to learn to do the work themselves. The demand for her content has persisted even as lockdowns ended, she believes, because there simply aren't enough tradespeople to meet demand and cost-of-living pressures are forcing people to do more themselves.
The numbers tell a story of generational shift. A 2024 report by B&Q found that three-quarters of Gen Z women surveyed said they enjoy DIY, compared to 60% of all female respondents. More striking: 82% of Gen Z women said seeing women doing complex home DIY on social media had inspired them to do more themselves, versus 60% of women in general. These younger women are leading the charge in challenging the assumption that DIY belongs to men.
But some women aren't just watching—they're switching careers entirely. Bliss Cunneen walked away from an Anthropology university course in 2020 to train as a plumber. Now 28 and based in south London, she describes the decision as "the best thing I've ever done." She loves the freedom and flexibility of running her own business. She's experienced doubt from some customers who arrive expecting a man, and once was mistaken for a receptionist. But she's learned that once she starts working and demonstrates her confidence and competence, most customers come around. She credits the explosion of online content with helping shift attitudes toward women in trades.
Anna Moynihan founded TaskHer, a platform connecting female tradies with customers, after growing frustrated with her own renovation experiences. When tradesmen came to her home, they would address her husband rather than her. Five years ago, she couldn't find stock photographs of tradeswomen for marketing materials. Even the word "tradeswoman" would autocorrect to "tradesman" on her computer. "It's those little things that, you know, ultimately you don't feel welcome into that environment," she says. "It's already hard enough to become a tradeswoman, a woman in an industry where you're massively under-represented." The platform's growth has been rapid: enquiries have more than doubled so far this year compared to 2025, while the number of tradeswomen signing up has almost quadrupled. Customers choose female tradespeople for various reasons—industry surveys suggest some feel more at ease with a woman in their home, others believe women will be more respectful, and some want to support women working in traditionally male roles. Moynihan has noticed a pattern of women joining the platform after leaving white-collar jobs. In the last month alone, three Oxford University-educated tradeswomen signed up. Some had always wanted to enter a trade but felt unable to because of their gender. Others are drawn to the flexibility of self-employment in a field less vulnerable to disruption by artificial intelligence.
The broader picture remains sobering. Women make up only about 4% of the UK's construction workforce, according to the Federation of Master Builders. But there are signs of movement. One in ten people who started a construction apprenticeship in 2024-25 was a woman, up from around one in fourteen five years earlier. Jasmine hopes that women seeing online content like hers will be inspired to attempt a project or consider entering a trade. "The more women who are seen online doing these sorts of things, the more normal it becomes," she says. Anna agrees with a phrase that captures the challenge and the opportunity: "You can't be what you can't see, and anything that shows women and girls that they can do something is fantastic."
Notable Quotes
I'm just showing that we are capable, we are interested in this sort of stuff and we're sick of waiting around for six months for our husbands to pick up the tools and do it in most cases.— Jasmine Gurney, DIY influencer
You can't be what you can't see, and anything that shows women and girls that they can do something is fantastic.— Anna Moynihan, founder of TaskHer
Want the full story?
Read the original at BBC News ↗