The average for women was 17 hours a week and just under six for men. Over a quarter of wives and girlfriends spend 21 hours or more each week on chores excluding child care, also their responsibility.

The findings, in a survey of 1,800 men and women, come despite most men agreeing they should share the burden. Men only made a significant contribution mending faulty household items.

Said Professor Gillian Robinson of the University of Ulster, "It is difficult to see how women will ever have the same opportunities in the labor market if equality at home is not achieved."

While nearly 3 in 4 adults said it was right for both men and women to earn, only 8 percent believed mothers of children under 5 should work.