In the past 10 years, DIY (do it yourself) related content on social platforms has increased significantly. I believe it is difficult for everyone to ignore it.
From tutorials on how to repair cracks in your walls to step-by-step YouTube tutorials that teach you how to build built-in seating from scratch, the internet is filled with countless home improvement demonstrations.
DIY was often seen as a male domain in the past, but now a group of female influencers are encouraging a new generation of women to take matters into their own hands and handle various projects at home.
At the same time, the market demand for female professional workers is also increasing. Some women are switching to technical jobs because they believe these jobs are less likely to be replaced by artificial intelligence than office-based jobs.
Building a wardrobe at eight months pregnant
DIY internet celebrity Jasmine Gurney documented a series of projects she has done on Instagram. The workload is staggering and sounds quite tiring.
She has knocked down partition walls, replaced floors, built fences, added insulation and wood panels to the attic, built an outdoor studio, custom-made cabinets, moved electric switches, built her son's first bed with her own hands, and is now building a treehouse for him.
The former marketing professional is now eight months pregnant and is completing a custom-made wardrobe before the birth of her new baby.
"I like proving people wrong." Jasmine, 33, from Bedfordshire. She said that she had been questioned by netizens for doing this, but this only "motivated me even more."
"I want to show other women that they can do it," she said.
"I've tried doing these projects while pregnant, and I've tried doing them with my oldest son in a baby carrier."
"I just want everyone to see that we are capable of doing it and that we are interested in these things...and many times, we are fed up with having to wait six months for our husbands to finally pick up the tools to do it for us."
Jasmine said her social platform really started to gain traction during the COVID-19 pandemic, when people couldn't find professionals to work from home and had to learn to handle various projects themselves.
She believes that demand for this type of content continues unabated, long after lockdowns have ended. One of the reasons is that there is a shortage of professional workers to meet market demand; at the same time, the rising cost of living has also put pressure on the renovation budgets of many families.
Generation Z women lead the way
A 2024 report from British homewares retailer B&Q noted that Generation Z (Gen Z) women are “taking the lead in breaking gender stereotypes in DIY.”
About three-quarters of Generation Z women surveyed said they like DIY, which is higher than 60% of all female respondents.
In addition, 82% of Generation Z women said that seeing women doing more complicated home DIY projects on social platforms inspired them to start doing it themselves; the overall proportion of female respondents was 60%.
Of course, not all jobs can be done yourself. Sometimes, you still need GSI (get someone in), that is, find a professional to handle it.
Bliss Cunneen dropped out of college to study anthropology in 2020 to train as a plumber.
The 28-year-old woman from south London said trying the job on a whim was "the best decision I ever made". She especially enjoys the freedom and flexibility that comes with running her own business.
However, she encountered some skepticism when she came to work for clients; once, she was even mistaken for a receptionist. But she said, "When you actually get to work and show them that you have confidence and know what you're doing, they'll buy into it."
She believes that online DIY content has increased significantly in recent years, which is "really helpful" and has gradually changed society's view of women doing DIY or joining technical jobs.
The market demand for female technicians is increasing
Anna Moynihan founded TaskHer, a platform that pairs female tradies with customers in need of home engineering services.
She founded the platform because she had made many appointments with male technicians during renovations in the past, but when he came to her home, he always talked to her husband instead of communicating with her, which made her feel helpless.
Five years ago, she said, she couldn't even find stock photos of female mechanics to use in her company's promotional materials. Even the word "tradeswoman" (female mechanic) will be changed by the computer's autocorrect function to "tradesman" (male mechanic).
"It's these little things that ultimately make you feel like women are not welcome in this environment."
"It's hard enough to be a female mechanic because women are so underrepresented in this industry."
Anna said that so far this year, the number of inquiries TaskHer has received has more than doubled compared with the same period in 2025, while the number of female technicians registered to join the platform has nearly quadrupled.
Customers may choose female mechanics for different reasons. Industry surveys show that some people may feel more comfortable having women come into their homes to work, others think female tradies will be more respectful to customers, or simply want to support women in traditionally male-dominated jobs.
But in recent years, more and more women have joined her platform after leaving white-collar jobs, Anna said. She said three female tradies with Oxford qualifications had joined in the past month.
She said that some of these women have always wanted to join technical jobs, but in the past they found this path difficult because they were women, so they never realized it.
Others hope to start their own businesses and enjoy greater work flexibility; at the same time, they believe that such jobs are not easily affected by the rapid development of artificial intelligence.
"If you've never seen it, it's hard to imagine that you can do it."
DIY internet celebrity Jasmine hopes that women will be encouraged to try to complete some projects by themselves after seeing her type of online content, and even consider joining related technical jobs.
This article was originally written in English. We used artificial intelligence to assist in translation and was reviewed by BBC journalists before publication.
