Women’s ‘Genes’ Make Them Do More Housework And Posh is dirtier than house proud Becks!

Added: (Thu Jun 19 2003)

Pressbox (Press Release) - Forget your IQ, it’s your HAQ that matters in the home. That’s according to first ever House Admin Quotient or HAQ, released today, that proves just how high you score at housework – and many think women have higher HAQs because it’s in their genes!

Results out today clearly show that men believe they have ‘more important work to do’ to be doing housework; have far lower housework standards than women; and that women do more because ‘it’s in their genes’. And finally, men are still using the excuse ‘women are better at it!”

On average we spend 364 hours (2 weeks) a year on housework, but according to research released today by Comfort fabric conditioner most of this time is wasted; with 62% failing to use it productively.

Comfort researched household habits of 1000 adults and the results overwhelmingly reveal that we feel unrewarded, unproductive and dissatisfied with our housework. However, Comfort, working with an occupational psychologist, believe they have the answer with the first Home Admin Quotient (HAQ): an online statistical tool that empirically demonstrates just how productive you are in the home: www.parentalk.co.uk/comfort.asp.

Highlights of Comfort’s research include:

Considering we spend more than 2 weeks a year (24 hours a day) on housework it’s not surprising housework very often leads to domestic strife with 88% of us agreeing that help with the housework really helps our relationships.

Many of us have an image of David Beckham walking around Beckingham Palace collecting up dirty washing, while Posh leaves her clothes lying around the floor. David Beckham is seen as Britain’s tidiest celebrity, with 70% of Brits thinking he has a high “Home Admin Quotient.” By contrast, only 43% believe that Posh would pick up an iron if the housework were left up to her. But despite how immaculate Liz Hurley is 56% of us thought she would do her housework if she had to! Other celebrities the public believe never do any housework are Jordan (57%) and Jessie Wallace AKA Kat Slater (71%). Robbie Williams is voted the biggest house slob with 77% of people thinking this.

50% of us agree men have lower standards to women in the home; 27% think women are better at housework and 12% say it’s in women’s genes to do more in the home.

We are a nation of household snobs, with 69% of us believing we have higher standards than our dirty neighbours.

The average householder spends 7 hours a week doing housework. That means today’s 25 year olds can expect to spend almost 2 years of their entire lives on chores such as the washing and ironing![1]

Almost nine in 10 (89%) of us feel time spent on household tasks is unproductive, and a similar number feel that it’s unrewarding (78%).

There are three key variables that affect your HAQ: how energetic you are in your approach; if you plan your tasks and the satisfaction you feel on completion of the housework.


Home Admin Quotient
With so many of us seeing time spent on household chores as time that could be devoted to other more productive and fun tasks, Comfort has teamed with Aver Psychology to produce the very first Home Admin Quotient (HAQ).

Found at www.parentalk.co.uk/comfort.asp the Home Admin Quotient is an online statistical tool that tells you how productive you are when doing the housework and gives advice on how it can be done quicker and more efficiently.

Comfort Brand Manager, Fatim Kesvani says: “We found that we adopt a similar approach to tasks at work to those in the home. We feel unproductive because we can often adopt the wrong approach; the HAQ shows you just how productive you are – I did it and was staggered at how much time I’ve been wasting”.

Comfort recommends people try the HAQ to see how well they fare. “You can soon turn it around once you know if you’re being wasteful,” continues Kesvani, “ I try and plan my tasks each week now and make sure I reward myself too.”

[1] Assuming an average life expectancy of 75

- ENDS -

For Further information please contact Jess Livingstone on 02073606048 or jessica@cowpr.com or Becky Biswell on 02073606027 becky@cowpr.com

Notes to Editors
* Comfort is the UK’s leading fabric conditioner in 77% of the nation’s homes.

HAQ EQUATION :

Sum of Housework habits x 20 + 16 = YOUR HAQ SCORE!
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To work out your HAQ choose one option from each of the four questions below. When you have your four scores (one from each option), add them together and replace the sum of housework habits with this final score. Then complete the equation to find out your HAQ score!

1) How many rooms do you have? Please rate this question on the scale (a- f)

a) 1,2, or 3 = -0.608

b) 4 = -0.416

c) 5 = -0.192

d) 6 = 0

e) 7 = 0.192

f) 8 = 0.416


2) How important is it for you to be good at housework? Please rate this question on the scale (a- f)

a) very important = 1.343

b) = 0.632

c) = 0

d) = -0.632

e) = -1.343

f) not at all important = -1.975


3) Setting yourself specific tasks when cleaning is… Please rate this question on the scale (a- f)

a) always important that I do this = 0.406

b) = 0.174

c) = -0.058

d) = -0.261

e) = -0.493

f) it’s never important = -0.725


4) You often find that the reward you feel when you’ve done the housework is far less than the effort you put in. Please rate this question on the scale (a- f)

a) never = 0.432

b) = 0.24

c) = 0.048

d) = -0.168

e) = -0.36

f) always = -0.552


How do you fare?

HAQ Score What are my housework skills?
20 + Congratulations. Your score is among the top 2% in the country. Change your name to Monica, you couldn’t be any better at housework! A true domestic goddess or god. You have balanced your energy with your planning and you make sure that you are more than satisfied with the results. Perfect.
16 - 19 Didn’t quite make the top score, but not to worry. Your score is among the top 15% in the country, so you are still fantastic at doing the housework. You didn’t quite reach the top score but you are highly productive at your housework and waste very little time. Try to focus on your planning and make sure that you put in the effort that reaches your expectations.
10 - 15 Your score is average. 68% of the population in the UK will fall into this category. So not to worry, you do the housework just as well as 2/3 of the population. This is not a bad score at all – but the bad news is you’re still wasting time that could be spent on you. Don’t let the housework mount up - plan ahead. This way you won’t be overwhelmed and you will find you will become more productive with your time.
4 - 9 Whoops, not too good. Your score is below average. 85% of the population in the UK do the housework better than you. You need to grab that broom a little more often. You are being unproductive with your time – try planning, adopting a more positive approach to tasks, delegating and rewarding yourself
3 or less Very low result. 98% of the population are better at doing the housework than you. Looks like you will need to take some serious action to ditch the dirt. You are wasting 2 weeks of every year attempting to do your housework. It’s time to take control, get planning, do small jobs frequently and hand out those housework rewards

Results at a Glance (please see attached as fomatting is lost on email)


Is the following celebrity house proud or not?
F % Yes M % Yes Total % Yes
Nigella Lawson 83 83 83
Posh 73 68 71
Becks 70 69 70
Jordan 37 39 38
Liz Hurley 74 68 71
Kat Slater / Jessie Wallace 30 34 32
Ant & Dec 34 42 38
Robbie Williams 27 20 24
Which of these celebrities would be prepared to do their own housework if the cleaner didn’t turn up?
F % M % Total %
Nigella Lawson 82 84 83
Posh 42 44 43
Becks 72 68 70
Jordan 42 44 43
Liz Hurley 54 52 56
Kat Slater / Jessie Wallace 33 26 29
Ant & Dec 35 40 37
Robbie Williams 26 20 23
When it comes to housework I have higher standards than other people
F % M % Total %
Yes 69 68 69
No 31 32 31
Helping with the housework helps relationships
Yes 93 84 88
No 7 16 12
When I do my housework I am productive
Always 38 39 38
Sometimes 53 48 51
Never 9 13 11
How important is it to you to be good at housework?
Very 33 30 31
Somewhat 56 56 56
Not at all 11 14 13
The reward I feel is less than the effort I put in when doing housework
Always 26 24 25
Sometimes 47 51 49
Never 28 25 27
When I finish a household task I feel as satisfied as I expect to
Always 32 30 31
Sometimes 52 52 52
Never 16 18 17
I don’t like to handover chores to others as they won’t do it as well as me
Agree 60 56 58
Disagree 40 44 42
Women do more housework than men. This is because…
They are better at it 28 25 27
It’s in their genes 13 11 12
Men have more work to do 6 17 12
Men don’t have the same standards as women in the home 53 47 50