Esther McCarthy: The dirty truth about who does housework

Currently, we have a weekly jobs sheet pinned to the noticeboard. For every job you do, you put your initial next to it. At the end of the week, we tot them up

Esther McCarthy: "Some jobs take a minute, like feeding the cat and dog, filling or emptying the dishwasher. Others take longer; cleaning the bathroom, making dinner, hoovering the stairs."

Who does more housework in your house? I’ll bet dollars to doughnuts (mmm, doughnuts) that it’s the mam. 

Why is that, I wonder, as I push the clean laundry off the sofa — where it has been waiting to be folded for the last three days — so I can sit down and watch reruns of Dermot Bannon getting sexily exasperated about patios on Room to Improve, and my new favourite, Your Home Made Perfect with Angela Scanlon.