Taking a lie-in or lunching with friends also counts as personal care.

Women spend more time than men on personal care.

After the 22 minutes more British women spend than men each day on personal care is taken into account, men have only ten minutes more spare time than women.

If shopping did not count as unpaid work, the gap would be even narrower. The OECD noted that not all women regard all shopping as a chore and that some regard it as leisure.

The 32-minute leisure advantage for men in Britain compares with 38 minutes in the United States, 33 minutes in France, 50 minutes in Belgium and 22 minutes in Germany.

The report adds: 'While Norwegian-men spend just a few minutes more a day on leisure activities than women, Italian men spend nearly 80 minutes a day more.'

The organisation noted that the big gap in Italy is, according to surveys, a result of Italian men watching television while their wives clean the house.

The report, released to mark International Women's Day, used the apparent comparative laziness of men as evidence to support calls for action to bring greater equality for women.

It said: 'Governments and firms need to do more to tackle the gender equality gap.'

Across the OECD countries, 62 per cent of women have jobs, and women earn a fifth less than men, the report found.

Officials said the gap was a result of women taking time off work to concentrate on bringing up their children.

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