Less time spent doing housework is making women fatter according to new study

Much like dinosaurs and George Clooney being single and up for grabs, the days when it was commonly accepted that a woman's place was in the home are long gone.

But according to a new British study, it looks as if we are doing our health - and waistlines - a disservice by having careers and a life outside the home. Researchers claim that the average British woman now spends nearly 20 percent less of her day on housework than her counterpart in the early 1980s - and this is what has helped create the obesity epidemic currently unfolding in Britain.

Women now spend more time at work, and the swap from housework to office work may have put more pounds on the scale. As well, advances in technology, while saving people time and effort, have meant that any chores being done are not burning the same number of calories.

According to the Express, mopping floors burns 200 calories an hour - enough for a chocolate bar– whereas working on a computer uses as little as 70 calories.

The study, which used a range of government data on calorie counts and exercise levels, also found that we eat out more, snack more and spend more in the supermarket than our 1980s counterparts.

The surprising find was that the average Briton eats 20 percent FEWER calories per day nowadays than they did in the 1980s, but that jobs, commutes and also leisure time has become far more sedentary. We kinda knew that sitting down isn't going to give us Beyonce's bum, but who knew that cancelling your gym memberships and going home to hoover would?! Marigolds on, who is ready to get fit?