Who needs a toolbox when women have girl tools
You’ve heard of girl math—funny justifications for rationalizing something you’ve spent on. You’ve probably indulged in girl dinner, a low-effort, snack plate kind of meal. Now, make space for the internet’s newest feminine framework: girl tools—the hilariously improvised objects women use to solve everyday problems.
It all began with one innocent Threads post, where user @gracelaubenthal declared: “Girl math this, girl dinner that… what about girl tools??? I once used a bottle of lotion to nail a tapestry to my ceiling.”
The internet did what the internet does best: overshared. Suddenly, thousands of women proudly revealed the clever—and occasionally questionable—replacements they’ve used in moments of household desperation, like user @mo.flanagan, who proudly shared that she uses hairclips to unscrew and open a can tab.
And perhaps the most iconic improvisation came from @glitterofsighs, who whipped out an electric nail drill to enlarge a hole so her bathroom doorknob would fit.
There is a certain poetry in it, the alchemy of turning whatever’s on hand—keys, cookware, cosmetics—into instruments of survival. And somewhere between laughter lies a larger truth: Women have always been resourceful, even when the odds, or the toolboxes, weren’t built for us.
Why we girl-tool
It’s easy to dismiss girl tools as chaotic improvisation. But scratch the surface, and the trend tells a story we all know too well.
For generations, boys were ushered into garages and workshops, encouraged to tinker, fix, and operate machinery. Girls, on the other hand, were rarely handed a wrench—often told that someone else would handle the “heavy” or “technical” tasks.
Academic research confirms this divide. A review in Frontiers in Psychology notes that boys typically receive more informal mechanical training and hands-on encouragement at home, while girls are socialized toward domestic and relational roles. Yet despite these barriers, women never stopped solving problems. We’ve just learned to do it differently.
When women are given equal access to instruction and opportunities, they perform just as well as men in tool-based tasks. A survey by the Hardware Association shows that when institutional support is lacking—or social stigma discourages participation—women often find their own ways to DIY just about anything. Girl tools aren’t a sign of incompetence; they’re innovation in action.
Interestingly, research also suggests women may have an edge in multitasking. A study in BMC Psychology found that men were slower and less organized than women when rapidly switching between tasks. Both sexes struggled to juggle priorities, but men were more affected on average.
So why do we girl-tool? Because resourcefulness isn’t just instinct—it’s a learned art, honed not only by necessity but also by navigating situations we weren’t explicitly trained for. Even without prior exposure, instruction, or the “right” tools, women find ways to get the job done without relying on men, just like what’s said in Chappell Roan’s song “The Giver.”
So next time… toss us a lip gloss and a loose screw, and baby, we’ll make it work.
