Why Are There Women's & Men's Umbrellas?

It’s all about fashion and money. i agree with you that its main purpose is to protect humans from the rain. years ago, someone came up with the brainstorm that men and women should have their own individual umbrella. the right size, the right color and fashion for men and women. it, like everything else, is all about the money.

Did you ever see a left-handed umbrella? me, either.

Men don’t want to carry pretty ones.

@john65pennington: as much as that makes sense, who’s checking out your umbrella in a rain storm? Maybe a light drizzle?

Mens : Purely functional
Womens : Hee Hee, look at my pink froggy brolly XD

Yes i’m aware of the huge generalisation. Only some women feel this need, better?

My mother had a pink umbrella with little do-dads hanging down all around it.

Would you use this? not me.

Madmen strike again!!!

Because I just couldn’t imagine my SO taking the dogs for a walk with my PINK POLKA DOT umbrella!!
Equally I would never walk the dogs with his huge golf umbrella!!

I like mens’ umbrellas. They’re much bigger in diameter and made better—like mens’ slacks. I don’t care if they’re black.
Womens’ are too small and flimsy.

Good Question…because gender norms attached to inanimate objects are dumb, but persistent.

Men like plain, black or dark blue brollys. With wooden handles that curve. Women like pink frilly brollys with lace and butterflies. With straight handles made of plastic or carbon fiber.
(Mine is a big “two person” job, black with different colored polkadots)
Boys like trucks and football. Girls like dolls and clothes.
In baseball you wear a cap. In football you wear a helmet!
In baseball you play on a diamond. In football you play on a grid! (Carlin, G)

What @ucme said, although the women’s description should include accessorizing. I’m not going to use the orange umbrella with a red coat or a tartan umbrella with my chocolate all-sorts wellies.

Last year, I bought a ‘tandem’ umbrella for us so we can walk side-by-side. Note: it won’t work if there is a significant difference in height.

@Pied_Pfeffer: uggh, first I hear of these silly, gender based umbrellas and now tandem umbrellas! What’s next, umbrellas that are mesh, so they filter the rain from impurities but allow the water to seep through, anyway…?

@jonfreed Well, Sharper Image is now carrying this umbrella with a light and this one with reflective trim. You might consider selling your brilliant idea to them.

I was joking about the accessorizing, although several female friends probably do it. I just wear black coats and carry a black handbag until falls apart. All umbrellas are black as well. That’s as close I come to accessorizing.

I’ve always joked about making the “thumbrella”, with mounts on the thumb, leaving your outher fingers free. But, I can never get past the point where I realize the thing would break your thumb during fierce wind, or even having it amputated. Still, one could admit, it’s a catchy name.

Yeah, it is catchy. You could maybe just rethink the whole thumb thing and instead make some kind of harness that goes on to the hand or even a hands-free contraption…. ok, maybe not. Still, it is a really coolname.

Can I just say at this point. Being a man from the North East of England. Most of us blokes dinna use brollies, they’re for girls man. No we just get wet & look silly :¬)

Ah, just keep both hands free with the umbrella hat.

@Pied_Pfeffer – I think that’s a big yarmulke.
Did I spell that right; the one that Jewish people wear during worship

Same reason why there are men’s and women’s glasses, I figure.
An umbrella becomes part of your demeanour when you carry it around. If you care about demeanour (read: damn near everyone, especially women) you’ll want an umbrella that suits you.

@downtide
I want a pretty umbrella too. But in a gentlemanly way. A stylish black English one.

I now have an androgynous gender-neutral folding umbrella in green. It’s functional and it looks nice, and it’s spring-loaded to fold and unfold when you press a button. That’s also pretty cool.

Fashion, pure and simple. Nonsense in my opinion.

Because men are afraid their testicles would fall off if they carried a pink one.

I guess because most straight men would not want to carry a pink umbrella or one covered in daisies or Hello Kitties.

@rooeytoo but they will! Pink is fatal to a man, didn’t you know?

I can’t imagine a guy using a pretty parasol.

Any excuse to make a buck.

@downtide – we needed a new fishing rod to add to our arsenal, for when guests come and want to fish. So Ugly Sticks are a great and durable rod but very expensive, however they were having a sale on pink ones, guess they weren’t a big seller with the boys and not too many women fisherpeople willing to spend that much on a rod. Anyhow I bought one and now it is my husband’s favorite rod, he uses it all the time. Other fishermen give him a bit of a go about it but he doesn’t care and I know for a fact, all of his equipment is still intact!!!

I wouldn’t say that pink is fatal. More like Kryptonite. Superman can still writhe around in agony.

Now, if it’s pink and decorated with Sanrio characters, it’s lethal.

If it is for some reason vitally important that a man have an umbrella, and the only one available is pink with a Hello Kitty print, he can use it without any fear of harm.