First of all let me make one thing clear - I'm no expert. I've done basic DIY for years because I've had to but I have to be 'in the mood'. I've learned by experience what NOT to do - such as lose my temper with a couple of adjustable spanners when trying to remove a radiator from the wall. I was determined not to ask for help. I tried swearing at them. I tried mind over matter. In the end I hit one with a hammer. You can guess what happened and now it's the family joke 'Got a problem? Just use a hammer'. I also discovered that 24hour emergency plumbers aren't! But back to the colour pink. Why do tool manufacturers think that just because a woman wants to do her own home repairs - or even do it as a job for heaven's sake - all the tools have to be pink? Mind you, I've yet to see a Black and Decker drill done in Lipstick Pink. I mean, it's soo impractical. Talk about showing the dirt.

What tools I've seen in pink are just too lightweight - more like toffee hammers than a good 14lb lump hammer. So consider this - if the manufacturers produce tools that are not capable of serious hard work, stick a pink handle on it and market it for women what are they really saying? 'Here love, stick this picture on the wall but don't break a fingernail while you do it.' The Telegraph in May 2010 had an article in which it was boasted that the sales of pink garden secateurs, trowels, garden gloves and kneeler pads had gone up as much as 170 per cent. I have to admit to owning versions of two of the above - gloves and secateurs. What conclusions have I come to? The pink secateurs broke within weeks, the gloves I've never worn preferring a pair of thick leather gloves. I'm sorry if I sound like some Moaning Minnie but the article also went on "the trend shows women are doing an increasing number of small jobs around the garden because they are fed up of waiting for their other halves to get off the sofa" please note the use of the word 'small'. Oh look there's a weed - let me pull it up using my pink gloves or shall I dig it out using my pink trowel? Excuse me - but you can't scrub the patio, chop down and dig up Leylandii or shift paving slabs with a pink kneeling pad! Again the serviceability of some of the pink garden tools I've seen is questionable. If the manufacturers are serious in treating women equally then there'd be pink handled pick axes, loppers and chain saws. I must check to see if Felco - the best of the best in secateurs - do some in pink. If they do then I will eat my words.

Well would you believe it - they don't! Other research says that more women are taking on home repairs for the same reason - getting their other halves to swop football for polyfilla and the pub for a plumb line. I'm sure I've read somewhere that scientific research has shown that a man's brain works differently than a woman's. Yes - you all shout - we know that but when it comes to DIY and finishing a job that's when they don't 'see' what we see. This research, if I remember correctly, suggested that if you asked a man to look for butter in the fridge he would look for the word 'butter'. A woman on the other hand would look for the shape and the colour of butter and logically would have more success in finding it. So when it comes to something like kitchen fitting - the man won't see the mess, the dust, the cement floor and the sheer frustration of trying to produce meals safely and comfortably. He will see a cooker, a work surface and a sink. All you need in a kitchen. Yet the colour Pink in the kitchen is very popular and the tools that I've seen and used are practical and worthwhile buying. Could it be something to do with it traditionally being a woman's province? Since the advent of silicone the colour range is amazing for kitchen tools. But I digress. There are websites that cater for ladies who love pink and who may change the fuse in a plug, unscrew something and hammer in a nail and the tool kits look great. I apologise now is I annoy anyone but the tiny adjustable spanner I've seen in the tool kit would be absolutely useless for removing radiators! There's a cordless screwdriver on the market in pink but sorry - I couldn't find an electric drill. I could say these findings merely confirmed what I thought - that you can't be taken seriously with DIY if you're a woman and like pink. In the manufacturers defence - to produce tools that could cope with a decent work load and produce them for women who want to do serious DIY and cater for those who would like them in pink would not be financially viable. I should imagine they have done market research into numbers and demographics and already arrived at that conclusion.

For those of you out there who like to put up shelves, fit cupboards and wardrobes, build and make your own no matter what it is then buy decent work tools. Any decent hardware store should have staff to advise you. If any hardware store does not treat your enquiry for a good range of hand tools suitable for use by a woman, worse still they show you some in pink, I wouldn't shop there. Take Mortens of Ilkley for instance. Staffed by ex-trades people they will direct you to the best product for the job, let you handle it, instruct you in its use and treat you with respect. I've tested them out - and what they showed me I would have picked myself. There's a brilliant SKIL 6280 keyless hammer drill that would be great for putting up curtain rails and doing work outside at only £39.99! You can get a decent set of Draper screwdrivers that will do most tasks for about £12.99 and a couple of hammers from the Faithfull hickory handled 4oz at £8.50 to a CK claw hammer 16oz with a colourful handle - and no it's not pink. There was a moment when I nearly raised an eyebrow when a mention was made that a 20oz claw hammer may be a bit too heavy.... Girls - what do we have to do to be taken seriously! If you want your tools to be pink you're going to have to start a campaign begging the manufacturers to create them. That would make an interesting marketing campaign! Now a pink leather tool belt.

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