Power tools meet empowerment -- but it’s a little too pretty

HOW does a woman get a toilet replaced? Some women will call in a handyman, a boyfriend, a brother or a dad. And some will actually pick up tools and do the job. Or wish they knew how to.

For that cluster of empowered or hope-to-be-empowered women, publishers have offered a steady stream of books, including “Chix Can Fix: 100 Home-Improvement Projects and True Tales From the Diva of Do-It-Yourself” by Norma Vally of the Discovery Home Channel’s “Toolbelt Diva.” Then there’s “Room for Improvement: Change Your Home! Enhance Your Life! With Tools, Tips, and Inspiration from Barbara K!” by Barbara Kavovit.

This year, Clarkson Potter has created yet another wanna-be-a-handywoman book: “Be Jane’s Guide to Home Empowerment: Projects to Change the Way You Live” by Heidi Baker and Eden Jarrin.

We don’t actually learn from the book or the authors’ website, www.bejane.com, what these two do for a living, other than that they write books and run a website where you can buy pink tool belts, hard hats and other stuff. The book says that each bought a bedraggled house at some point, each learned some fix-it stuff, the two met along the line, and the rest is history.

The reason this is all pertinent is that the projects in the book -- including replacing a toilet and installing a window seat -- are written in a manner that gives little hint that these women have ever touched a tool.

And some of the projects are odd selections for neophytes. For instance, installing and hard-wiring a light fixture seems ambitious for a beginner.

So, if the instructions are not that electrifying, and these two lassies are counting on the photos and illustrations to make the book work, they have missed the mark. The illustrations are oversimplified to teach the tasks being presented. And the photos show the authors in various states of glee inside a home.

Do photos of sunlight glistening on the pair’s tresses, on their slender arms and on their high heels inspire a handywoman to crawl underneath a dripping sink to replace a garbage disposal? They give me an urge to run out for a facial and some shoe shopping.

Take the photo of one of the broadly smiling authors assuming a jubilant cheerleader stance in front of a large saw. Her left arm shoots high in the air, her right arm thrusts sideways and her left leg is provocatively cocked and punctuated with a 4-inch spiked heel. I’m no OSHA expert, but are spiked heels safe on a job site?

The book’s potential to inspire is in the contributions by members of the Be Jane online community, whose one-page profiles describe their favorite tools, offer advice on doing fix-it jobs and the like. Each profile is punctuated by a head shot, sometimes a glamour shot, of the member. It wasn’t until I saw a picture of a woman actually holding a tool -- a screw gun -- that I felt excited. Yes, that’s what this book could be about: women actually touching tools, using them, doing things.

If the Be Jane authors end up selling a lot of pink hard hats, good for them. But if they write another book, it would be better for us if it provides photos of real women working with tools. Then, I’d be more inspired to Be (like) Jane myself.