Should women work shorter weeks?

New research claims a 48-hour week is not compatible with modern family life where both men and women work.

The researchers argue that traditionally men were able to work those hours because women stayed at home to do the chores and care for the kids.

Now women work those hours and do unpaid care and chores - and they say that's way too much for women to handle.

The researchers spoke to 8,000 adults in Australia and found two thirds of full time employees work for more than 40 hours.

Dr Huong Dinh, the lead researcher of the study, said: "Long work hours erode [people's] mental and physical health, because it leaves less time to eat well and look after themselves properly.

"Given the extra demands placed on women, it's impossible for women to work [the] long hours often expected by employers unless they compromise their health."

This may sound like we're taking a step back in time, but the figures appear to add up.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD) claims women around the world spend two to 10 times more time on unpaid work - things like cooking and cleaning - than men.

In 2016, women did an average of 4.5 hours of unpaid work every day while men contributed less than half of that time.

The OECD says: "Women typically spend disproportionately more time on unpaid care work than men.

This is because "gendered social norms" view unpaid care work as a female prerogative. And these expectations affect women "across different regions, socio-economic classes and cultures".

The upshot? A "double burden" of work for women.

But some people aren't happy about the stats.

One commenter on Facebook said: "What about the single guys that work and do their domestic duties for themselves? ... I work 47 plus hours a week and take care of my duties just fine. I am proud of my work ethic."

Another - Caitlan - said: "Your responsibility to your family does not end when you punch the clock out and is not fulfilled when the pay check is deposited into the account."

Some used the findings to discuss other ways of dealing with overwork...

Some women say the advice to work less is not helping equality.

On Facebook, Leanne said: "We're trying to have equality in the work field and now you're saying we need less hours!? I don't think so! It's called have a god damn back bone and tell your husband to get off his lazy ass and help out!"

Hazel agreed: "Have no interest in cutting my work week short so I can do mundane crap like wash the dishes."

Via Newsbeat