Do men really prefer the housework to the office?

VACUUMING and washing up are not high on anyone’s list of fun activities.

For some men, however, pulling on the rubber gloves to do housework is apparently more enjoyable than a day at the office.

A study found men are less likely to enjoy their jobs than women on average, while working long days and feeling rushed at work have a stronger negative impact on them.

It means when asked to rate activities, men put domestic chores above work, while it is the opposite way round for women.

Oxford University asked more than 4,000 people in the UK to rate their enjoyment of daily activities over a weekday and weekend day. On a scale of one to seven – with seven enjoying something ‘very much’ – housework came in at 4.5 for men, above 4.4 for their paid job.

Dr Pierre Walthery, who conducted the study, said it may be because men do less scrubbing and more DIY when it comes to housework, while women spend more time on dreary chores. But men’s sense of being stressed at work may also make a few chores seem appealing by comparison. He said: ‘We know from previous research that men of childbearing age tend to work longer hours than women and that they complain more about it. For women, on the other hand, work can be an escape from the responsibilities of being at home and the unpaid work they do there.’

Participants were asked to rate their daily activities every ten minutes in a diary, with women grading housework at 4.4, below an enjoyment score of 4.5 for work. The results suggest that women are more stoic about having to work early or late at night.

Dr Walthery, who will present his results today at the British Sociological Association’s employment conference in Belfast, added: ‘Women are more likely to do caring jobs, which include nursing and childcare, and this may explain the difference, as we know these jobs provide more enjoyment. However self-employment has a more positive effect on men than women, this study showed, so that could make work more appealing than housework for them.’

The Centre for Time Use Research at the University of Oxford found both sexes rated activities such as socialising, caring for others, doing volunteer work and cultural events as more enjoyable than paid work, typically scoring them six out of seven.