According to new research from the British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey, women are still doing the biggest share of housework even though three-quarters of respondents said domestic labour should be split equally.

The annual survey, which has been charting the “cultural and political landscape” of the UK for the last 40 years, found that women are more likely to do the washing and ironing, with 65% saying that this is mainly done by the woman in the household (compared to 27% who share equally). 43% said that the household shopping is mainly done by women and 54% said women are more likely to cook dinner and do the household cleaning.

However, attitudes to gender roles have seen a significant change over the years. Back when the survey initially kicked off in the 80s, 48% of respondents agreed with the statement “a man’s job is to earn money and a woman’s to look after the home”; this year, only 9% agreed.

And when it comes to domestic labour, 75% regarded ironing as a woman’s job whereas 16% of respondents held that view today. 82% agreed that household cleaning should be shared equally.

The BSA survey also asked respondents questions around other social and moral issues such as same-sex relationships, sex before marriage and abortion. Overall, the UK has become more liberal in its attitudes.

81% of respondents said they think it’s all right for a couple to live together without being married, up from 64% in 1994, and 67% think a sexual relationship between two people of the same sex is never wrong, compared with 17% in 1983.

On abortion, people are more likely to think an abortion should be allowed in a range of circumstances compared with 40 years ago, although this support decreases when there’s no health risk involved.

The gap between attitudes and behaviours for domestic labour has reiterated that “the public are now much less likely to believe that women desire domesticity more than they value career achievements” and “much less likely to believe that a man’s role is to earn and a woman’s role is to care”, the authors wrote in the report.

“Yet, these changes in attitudes have taken place incrementally over time, and we are yet to see a complete revolution in views – as well as practices.”

Images: Getty