Sometimes a study comes out and you read it thinking 'Guys, did you actually need to spend time in the lab to work that out?'
One such study was released yesterday which found that women do more housework than men.
The research was conducted by UCL. They found that the average woman does 20+ hours of housework a week, whereas the average man does 5+.
They also found that in relationships where the female partner has a higher paying and more demanding job, she still does more of the domestic labour. Which seems totally fair.
Out of 8,500 different-sex couples (so 17,000 people) there were only two types of men who did the same amount of housework as their partners. In couples where the wife was the breadwinner (6%), male contribution was equal to or exceeded their partner.
Perhaps the most shocking finding of the research was that in two thirds of relationships where the male partner stayed at home full time, the female partner (the one with the job) STILL did the majority of the housework.
The imbalance in unpaid domestic labour between men and women is often regarded as one of the major factors for the pay gap. Men are statistically more likely to work (paid) overtime in offices, which contributes to higher pay rates. Women, on the other hand, are more likely to turn paid overtime down in favour of unpaid domestic labour.
Often when the pay gap is discussed it is dismissed as a result of men working harder and therefore being paid more. But in reality women are working just as many, if not more, hours. It's just that those hours are outside of the home and unpaid. This is often referred to as the 'second shift'.
The researchers behind the study at UCL were asked what they thought we could to to improve the split of domestic labour. Professor Anne McMumm, who led the research suggested that Britain should follow in the footsteps of Scandinavian countries where well-paid paternity leave and affordable childcare are standard.
If you're not in a position to affect government policy then we recommend not getting into a relationship with anyone unless they take a 50/50 split of the housework - without having to be asked.
READ MORE: Men Claiming To Be Bad At Chores Is An Act Of Misogyny