If it can't be fixed by duct tape or WD-40, it's a female problem.

Framed as a jokey “rule of thumb,” the line plays on a familiar DIY stereotype: that most mechanical or household problems can be solved with two iconic, all-purpose products—duct tape (for holding things together) and WD‑40 (for loosening or lubricating). The punchline then pivots into a gendered insinuation, implying that anything not solvable by these tools must be a “female problem.” Read critically, it reflects a strain of workshop humor that equates competence and fixability with masculine-coded tinkering while reducing women to a category of “problems.” Its significance today is often less as practical advice than as an example of how casual jokes can reinforce sexist assumptions.