WHAT EVERY WOMAN KNOWS!

DATE ISSUED : 27.06.2007

A poll commissioned by household appliance manufacturer Bosch shows women do ALL or MOST of the cleaning, cooking and shopping - on average for more than 15 hours a week!

Women do over 80 per cent of the washing while men manage only 15 per cent of it. And - presumably on the basis that women have got up a head of steam with the washing - their other halves let them do over 80 per cent of the ironing too!

And when they have finished that they do almost three quarters of of the dusting and cleaning, bedmaking and cooking and almost two-thirds of the vacuuming and shopping. In fact, the only thing men do as much as women is take out the household rubbish -well, it's only a short walk to the bin, and they were going past it on their way to the pub anyway... If this life of household skivvying wasn't bad enough - a small but significant minority of women claim to get less than an hour of time to themselves a week - women HATE doing most of the housework.

A third of the poll's respondents claimed the family's ironing as their most-despised chore. Almost a fifth of mums admit bribing their children to do some of the jobs.

And there's a note of warning for men who let their partners do most of the housework: all that time on boring cleaning, washing and ironing gives women time to think about what they would rather be doing. Women in the survey fantasised about holidays - a family trip to Disneyland was a favourite. Of the men questioned, a fifth wanted a go in a racing car and almost 10 per cent wanted a go at skydiving. And while over a fifth of respondents had lives so full of drudgery they hadn't time to dream of something nice for themselves, almost as many wanted to write a novel, another tenth harboured dreams of a life on the stage and almost as many... fancied a NATURIST holiday. And in the case of the latter, not necessarily with their other halves: tellingly, almost half of the women surveyed admit that if they got the chance to pick a future partner, it would be one who likes to get involved in housework! Ken Humphrey, brand manager for Bosch said: "It is incredible how long we spend cleaning in a lifetime. Most of us would rather be enjoying ourselves than doing the housework.

But you can really cut down the time spent cleaning by choosing the right products. "That's why we concentrate on making more powerful and efficient household appliances." "The technology is now so advanced it really does get the job done more quickly." If not housework, what WOULD we rather be doing? WITH all that time saved, respondents revealed they would like go on a dream holiday to Disneyland (37%)... or do absolutely nothing (27%). The more energetic would like to drive a racing car (23%); write a novel (20%); go skydiving (10%) - or play the lead role in a musical or stage play (0%). Nine percent of us are keen to throw caution - and all those nice clean clothes - to the wind... and go on a naturist holiday! (Adds up to over 100% - multiple responses were permitted). IS IT IN THE STARS? If you're interested in star signs...

Taureans were most likely to choose ironing as their least favourite chore - and were most likely to want to write a novel.

Ariens were least likely to say they would base their choice of future partner on whether they got involved in likely chores. But then Ariens are so forceful they would probably just tell a prospective partner he or she would be doing the ironing, like it or not...

Virgoans and Scorpians are fussier: any future partner will probably have to fill in a likes/dislikes questionnaire and be graded for suitabilityly on the result. So if you want someone else to do the ironing and you're not into reading, don't marry a Taurean!

Aries won't necessarily be a much better bet, and if you are about to marry a Virgo or Scorpio partner, have you taken the test yet?

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Respondents in the NORTH were least likely to be concerned with environmentally friendly factors when buying household appliances, and least likely to own a dishwasher or washer-drier.

In the MIDLANDS, respondents were happy to do a quick general household tidy-up, rather than a thorough clean.

SOUTHERN respondents frankly just don't have the time: many don't bother to make the beds or do much dusting and cleaning. They are also least likely to own a steam-station iron - much faster at cutting down a pile of ironing than an ordinary iron.

MY, THAT'S INTERESTING... 26% of respondents said they are spending more time on chores than five years ago. 68% claim to be eco-friendly when buying household appliances. 37% say they have fewer than five hours' free time each week - while 4% have less than an hour a week and 2% say they never have any free time. 58% say their washing machine is the most popular labour-saving device; they wouldn't want to be without one. 30% of woman have been given a household appliance as a birthday or Christmas gift.

The most common household appliance owned is a vacuum (98%).

WHO TOOK PART IN THE SURVEY? 500 respondents: A random selection of female and male respondents of 25 - 75+ Cross-section of social class (by chief wage earner in household) Mix of family sizes in household - 85% have at least two people 38% have children living at home 47% are working NB: Earlier this year we also proved that the average British woman walks a staggering 7,300 miles while vacuuming in her lifetime - equivalent to walking to New York and back!

Their efforts leave their other halves biting the dust: men's lifetime vacuuming mileage adds up to the rather less glamorous journey from Land's End to John O'Groats!

LET OUR APPLIANCES TAKE THE STRAIN WASHING CLOTHES

If laundry takes all your time, a Bosch washing machine and iron could help. Express wash comes as standard, reducing wash programme times by up to 40% - so you can turn your washing round in double- quick time. A 15min Quick Wash programme is perfect for that item you need urgently.

The Logixx 8 washing machine takes 8kg of washing instead of the more usual 6kg of many other machines. So, you won't need to do as many washes; combine it with a Bosch steam iron and you'll have lots of time for something much more interesting!

IRONING: It's official: the most hated chore of all is ironing.

The power and performance of Bosch steam irons means they'are more efficient, so make the tedious job easier and therefore quicker. All our irons have a unique, supersmooth soleplate, and Bosch has the most powerful iron on the market, the Bosch Power with a 2600W element.

Choosing the right iron for the job can cut ironing time in half. Rather be doing something more interesting? With a Bosch iron, you can get to it quicker!

WASHING DISHES

Less than half of UK households ownn a dishwasher, yet owning one can save 90 minutes of chores a day. A Bosch dishwasher takes only a few minutes to load, giving you more time to finish your book - or write that novel!

Our survey also showed washing up and general tidying are most likely of all the chores to cause arguments in the home. So get rid of the source of at least one of the arguments! By the way: it's a myth that dishwashers use more water and energy than washing up by hand. In fact a Bosch dishwasher uses as little as nine litres of water for a full load - saving a staggering 40-60 litres a day over traditional washing up sessions.

Washing up by hand really is a waste of time, energy and resources.

VACUUMING

The average British woman walks a staggering 7,300 miles while vacuuming in her lifetime - equivalent to walking to New York and back! Their efforts leave their other halves biting the dust: men's lifetime vacuuming mileage adds up to the rather less glamorous journey from Land's End to John O'Groats!

That's why Bosch has developed a range of powerful and efficient cleaners that get the job done more quickly. And so we can be sure our cleaners are the best they can be, we submit them to the rigorous testing of highly-regarded organisations such as the Good Housekeeping Institute and the British Allergy Foundation.

Our Pro-Parquet model received official approval from the Good Housekeeping Institute, while the British Allergy Foundation has awarded its seal of approval to the Pro-Hygienic.

For further information, contact: Helen Fripp, 01225 484929 or Joan Uttley 01457 833346 helen@fripp- pr.co.uk / joan@juprltd.co.uk www.boschappliances.co.uk /Bosch Brochure Line: 0870 727 0446