Hardware Shows Its Feminine Side

As an industry, "they're getting the idea. It doesn't mean there isn't more good stuff that they could do," Barletta said. "They don't have the marketing savvy of a retailer like Target. There's a lot more they could be doing in terms of promotions and services. They're still focused on product."

For example, to appeal to time-starved women, she said, stores could offer regular delivery of potted plants, timed to seasonal changes.

Others agreed that the industry has more to do. "We're just scratching the surface," said Lyday, a union contractor for 13 years.

She is writing a home-repair guidebook, will launch a women-friendly tool line this summer and has plans for a construction-work clothing line.

"Look at what the food network has done for men getting involved in the kitchen," she said. "Men aren't closet cooks anymore. . . . That's starting to happen with women and tools."

A new generation of women-friendly tools is emerging also. Barbara Kavovit launched her Barbara K product line a year ago, selling her tool kit in Bloomingdale's and Macy's as well as more traditional hardware settings. The company pulled in $2.5 million in the second half of 2003, she said.

"Women really want to be able to fix things around the house," she said. "They've taken on so many roles in the 21st century: They're career-oriented, they're heads of households. This was a natural extension."

Recently, when her child asked her to hang up his basketball hoop, "there I was, 8 o'clock at night with my hammer and nails," Kavovit said. "It builds self-esteem. Independence is sexy, and to be able to be independent in all facets of your life is important to women today."

Tomboy Tools is selling its tools direct to women, like Tupperware parties, through home-based remodeling workshops. "We saw triple-digit growth for 2003," said Sue Wilson, president of Tomboy Tools, founded in 2000.

Like the Barbara K and Rubbermaid products, Tomboy Tools are made with rubberized grips and ergonomic designs made with women's hands in mind.

But pink, by all accounts, is to be avoided. Originally "the hardware industry really perceived that what women wanted were not serious tools," said Sue Wilson, president of Tomboy Tools.

"They didn't really understand that we as women homeowners are taking on serious home-repair projects," she said. "We need tools that will help us get those jobs done."