Desperate housewives? Or simply determined to be in charge? Women are spending an average of nine years of their adult lives cleaning and tidying, apparently.

Some say they find it mentally therapeutic: others that it is better than sex. Many insist they just find it depressing if their home is a mess.

We suspect the truth could lie elsewhere. Domestic chores are the one thing they feel they can control, some women admit.

In this area at least, most of their menfolk are happy to let them wear the trousers.

Updated: 09:52 Thursday, April 27, 2006