A new study suggests that getting married prompts a fifty percent increase in housework for women. While, for men the effect is totally opposite.

According to the research published in the latest edition of the Economic Journal, when a woman is single doing housework takes nearly ten hours a week. But after marriage, she normally does fifteen hours of housework every week.

On the other hand, a single man does an average of seven hours of housework a week. But, after marriage, his housework hours reduce to five hours a week.

Helene Couprie, who conducted the research, said: "The division of labor within families may explain the influence of household inequalities on gender inequalities in the workplace."

"The specialization of women into housework may explain why women accumulate fewer skills on the labor market and tend to be less productive," a British newspaper quoted Couprie as saying.