Women still draw the short straw when household chores are divided, research has shown.

Single women do more housework than single men — ten hours a week, compared with seven for males — data from the British Household Panel Survey show. The gap widens when men and women are married or living together: women find themselves doing 15 hours of housework a week, while the men’s share falls to five hours.

The research was published in the Economic Journal by Hélãne Couprie, of the University of Toulouse. Dr Couprie has developed a technique for measuring gender inequality in the home by comparing the wellbeing of spouses. The model she used recognised that individuals may have placed different values on aspects such as free time, housework and consumption. Her conclusion is that women obtain, on average, 40 per cent of the couple’s combined wellbeing.

A second study in the journal, this time based on French data, shows that men receive the greater share of economic benefits. Olivier Donni, of the University of Cergy-Pontoise in France, finds that if a husband’s wage increases by €1,000 (£670), the wife’s share of consumption rises by €120.

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