Apparently couples who share the housework equally have better sex

Grab your partner (and some marigolds)

It turns out housework is the key to a better sex life.

According to a recent study, couples that share household chores evenly have better sex - and more of it.

Research published in the Journal of Marriage and Family suggests that couples sharing housework equally have sex on average 6.8 times a month, compared to those with an unequal divide who do the deed just five times a month. It's not a huge difference but perhaps indicates that mutual love and respect around the house extends to the bedroom.

And it doesn't stop there. It's not just the amount of housework that needs to be divided fairly for better bedroom antics, it's the individual chores themselves - with sexual activity supposedly increasing if the jobs are not divided along gender lines.

It looks like we'll take heavy lifting, putting up shelves and pottering around in our sheds, then.

'Contemporary couples who adhere to a more egalitarian division of labour are the only couples who have experienced an increase in sexual frequency compared to their counterparts of the past', Sharon Sassler, an author of the study, explained.

Well this is a win for women, traditionally lumped with the lion's share of the 'housekeeping'. Not to mention a complete contradiction to old studies that claim ‘traditional’ relationships are more sexually satisfied.

'We’re seeing that gender equality doesn’t destabilize relationships the way it used to' Sassler goes on to explain, 'relationship quality and stability are generally highest when couples are happy with their divisions of labour and find them equitable and fair.'

Gender roles are changing and it looks like our relationship ideals are evolving too. Historian Stephanie Coontz has described the new study as a sign that equality in modern relationships increases the happiness of both partners.

Well this all sounds pretty great to us - more sex, less ironing and a happier relationship.

It looks like feminism is alive and well and the constrained 1950’s housewife role is fading away into the past where it belongs.