Women have less leisure time than 15 years ago - as men take more for themselves

It may not come as a shock to women that when it comes to housework, figures show they are more than pulling their weight. But it may surprise them to find that far from taking on more of the burden, men are spending more time having fun than they were 15 years ago - and shouldering less of the unpaid work. Figures from the Office for National Statistics suggest that the amount of time men spend on leisure activities rose from 42.88 hours in 2000 to 43 hours a week in 2015. Over the same period, the number of leisure hours taken by women dropped - from 39.24 in 2000 to 38.35 in 2015.

The ONS said the data "suggests that there is a growth in inequality between men and women when it comes to taking leisure time”. Men are now taking quite a lot more time each week for leisure and women are taking less compared with 2000. It added: "Leisure time for women could be less than for men because although women are more frequently engaged in part-time work than men, they spend more time completing unpaid work such as household chores and childcare. The hours spent on unpaid work are likely to replace those hours that could have been spent on leisure activities."

An increased care burden could be behind some of the disparity. People in their forties and fifties have become known as the "sandwich generation" who must care for elderly parents while supporting children who are not yet financially independent and may still be living at home.