More than half of husbands would not be prepared to swap roles with their other half, it has been revealed. A study found juggling childcare with work, planning the weekly meals and running the home are enough to put men off a role reversal.
In addition, having to conduct a weekly food shop and getting the kids ready for school are other aspects of a woman’s life men would hate to have to contend with.
Doing the cleaning and managing household bills and affairs are also chores which most men would not readily give up work to take on a daily basis.
It also emerged one third of men even admit they have the easy option in life, with 43% claiming they have ‘no idea’ how their partner multi-tasks so efficiently.
Janet Taylor, Diet and Health Manager for Co-operative Food, which commissioned the study to celebrate its support for the government’s Change4Life Smart Swaps campaign, said:
”Men seem very reluctant to swap roles with their partners.
”Even though, in many households, women also have full-time jobs, it seems that lots of other chores, including housework, running around after the kids and making sure everyone is organised, often falls to the female.
”Despite our differences, men and women are generally happy with their roles – and, as we all know, the key to running an efficient and healthy household is always teamwork.
“It was interesting to see that women would swap places with busy working mom Holly Willoughby, whilst men would switch with multi-talented David Beckham, who manages to combine worldwide fame with family commitments.”
The study of 1,000 men and 1,000 women showed 56% of blokes reckon they would find it hard if they had to juggle work with childcare every day.
Just under half of the men polled were more than happy to let their partner cook every night, and 46% liked them to be responsible for the weekly food shop.
In four in 10 households, women are solely responsible for the running of the house – and clean, pack lunch boxes, book appointments, take the children to clubs and get up in the night if the kids wake.
A further seven in 10 men would also dislike having to impress friends and family with their hosting skills and ability to run a beautiful house with perfect children.
Interestingly, despite their busy lifestyles, only 27% of women would change their lives and swap with their other half.
More than half of women claim that although their fella juggles less than them on a daily basis, they are quite happy with their lot.
And two thirds of women acknowledged the fact they probably couldn’t do their partner’s job, with six in 10 claiming his job was far more stressful than their average day at home.
A further one third of women also said their other half would be utterly useless in their role.
When asked what they’d most like to swap about their lives, women would like to swap their body for a leaner one (40%), or change where they live (28 per cent).
Men on the other hand, would like to swap their UK home for one abroad (29%) and have a change of career (23%).
In an ideal world, men would swap lives with David Beckham and women would switch with Holly Willoughby.
Janet Taylor added:
”We are encouraging our customers to join us in supporting the Change4Life Smart Swaps initiative with great deals on a wide variety of healthier products.
”Recommended swaps include swapping sugary drinks for diet or sugar-free versions, water or lower fat milk; swapping cheese to reduced fat cheese, swapping butter for lower fat butter or spreads; swapping sugary cereals to plain porridge, whole wheat cereal biscuits or plain shredded whole grain, and swapping whole milk to semi-skimmed.”
Top ten celebrities men would swap lives with:
1. David Beckham
2. Simon Cowell
3. Jenson Button
4. Brad Pitt
5. Cristiano Ronaldo
6. George Clooney
7. Jeremy Clarkson
8. Gareth Bale
9. Philip Schofield
10. Tom Cruise
Top ten celebrities women would swap lives with:
1. Holly Willoughby
2. Victoria Beckham
3. Duchess of Cambridge
4. Angelina Jolie
5. Kelly Brook
6. Millie Mackintosh
7. Fearne Cotton
8. Paris Hilton
9. Katy Perry
10. Davina McCall
