Marriage means increase in housework for women.

Research shows that getting married prompts a 50 per cent increase in housework.

When a woman is single, ironing, cleaning, cooking and other duties take up about ten hours a week. But after they are married, or have simply moved in with a boyfriend, they typically do 15 hours of housework every week, according to a report in the latest edition of Economic Journal.

For men, the effect is opposite. Before getting married or starting to cohabit, they do an average of seven hours' housework a week. Afterwards-that drops to five hours. The research says that men are willing to take a back seat because they think women enjoy taking control of the house and all the duties.

But women say they are forced to spend much more time at the kitchen sink because they are frustrated¹ by the piles of dirty dishes left by their partners.

For many couples, the arrival of children means the housework duties multiply, and many women tend to pick up the lion's share.

The research, by the economist² Helene Couprie, is based on a sample of more than 12,000 men and women in the British Household Panel Survey. A spokesman for the Economic Journal said it shows women tend to have more of a 'taste' for housework because they do more than men, even when single.

Women who hate housework, but cannot persuade their husbands or boyfriends to do it, could be helped by one compelling argument.

Scientists discovered recently that men could live longer if they did more chores. Hiding away from household duties and shirking childcare can even lead to them 'dying of boredom³'.