Men Baffled By Home Appliances And Reluctant To Do Domestic Chores, Study Finds

Just when you think gender stereotypes are starting to fade out of our culture, a study is published that seems to reaffirm them - turns out a significant proportion of men avoid domestic chores as they claim they simply don't know what to do.

In times gone by, gender roles were more commonplace, with women often expected to stay at home while men went out and worked. There are countless dubious videos and excerpts from textbooks floating about online, attesting to be from the 1950s, which give advice on how to be a 'good housewife'. Useful pointers usually include clearing away clutter, having dinner ready and being happy to see the hubby when he returns home - all very dated.

via GIPHY

But nowadays, such gendered expectations have been eroded, with both men and women ordinarily working and chipping in around the house.

However, a new study has found that 75 percent of men avoid domestic chores, claiming to be utterly clueless as to how to go about them. By contrast, only 39 percent of women said they were confused by household appliances.

Across the spectrum of appliances that bamboozle men, the washing machine stands out as the most mystifying, with 63 percent of men admitting they don't know how to operate them. Around a quarter of men also claimed to not know how to defrost food in the microwave or clean the oven.

WATCH: School Installs Laundry Room To Help Kids Who Can't Clean Clothes

The study was conducted by Samsung and 2,000 British adults were surveyed. As part of the study, participants were asked to complete a washing care labels identification test.

Unsurprisingly, considering the aforementioned male bewilderment caused by washing machines, women averaged a higher score for nine out of 10 of the labels; the 'do not tumble dry' and 'delicate wet clean' labels proved particularly cryptic to male participants.

C'mon guys, do not tumble dry? That's an easy one... and you wonder why all your cardigans are so tight.

Rickharp (Wikimedia Commons)

But if this is all getting a bit too real for you, wait up, there is some hope. While the study undoubtedly found there to be a gender gap in terms of understanding, it did indicate that the gap in terms of division of labour is shrinking. Women averaged 10 hours of domestic work a week, while men averaged around seven hours a week, which is a smaller gap than that reported in previous studies.

That said, the study also seems to suggest a disparity between the amount of work men think they do around the house and the amount of work women think they do - 68 percent of men said they equally split domestic work, but only 49 percent of women agreed.

... So the only real positive to be gleaned from this study could well be based on male delusion. Good work boys.

Topics: UK News, Interesting

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey