In my many decades of collecting vacuums, going to conventions, meeting thousands of collectors, I have only met ONE woman (Tania) who is a collector like me. She aggressively looks to expand her collection and actively increases her knowledge of the subject. All the rest have been men (when I met them). I worked for a woman who owned a vac shop, and were friends for decades, but Ruth Hollander was a businesswoman, not a vacuum collector.