Women have fought hard for equality but a staggering 82 per cent still do the housework in their home, according to a revealing new study into Britain's cleaning habits.

一项有关英国人的清洁习惯的新研究惊人地揭示，尽管女性为实现平等进行了艰苦的斗争，但是多达82%的女性依然 要负责家中的家务活。

Just eight per cent of husbands and boyfriends pull their weight when it comes to household chores（家务琐事） , figures show.

More than a third of young adults aged¹ under 24 admit they rely on their parents to clean up after them, while two per cent of Brits pay a professional cleaner.

Although men do much less round the home it would seem they are hard task masters with a third insisting 'I like my house to be clean at all times'.

The fact 15 per cent of men describe cleaning as 'too much hard work' provides some insight into why they pass the buck²（推卸责任） when it comes to housework.

And women feel that, even in this day and age, the cleanliness of their home reflects on them with half saying they get embarrassed when it isn't clean and refuse to accept visitors.

At one end of the spectrum³, one in eight Brits don't allow people to wear shoes in their home, while one in ten admit they simply don't care if others think their house is dirty.

The Cleaner Living study by domestic（国内的，家庭的） appliance manufacturer Miele revealed a host of cleaning errors we make and ways in which we try to hide the dirt away.

Twenty seven percent of us have turned over a cushion to hide a stain, twelve per cent have covered a stained carpet with a piece of furniture and five per cent have swept dirt under a rug（小地毯） .

Four in ten admit they have simply swept dirt from a kitchen surface or table onto the floor, while a quarter have used a dish cloth（洗碗布，抹布） to mop up a spillage（溢出） on the floor and just put it back.

A mucky（脏的，讨厌的） four per cent have even used a dish cloth to clean pet bowls and then continued to use it for washing up.

Relationship expert Phillip Hodson, spokesman for the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy, said many men still regard traditional housework as 'women's work'.

He said: 'Many men see putting oil in the car or changing a light bulb as doing their bit around the house but still see cooking and cleaning as women's work.