The largest proportion of time, 42 per cent of the total, was accounted for by ironing, with 39 per cent of time spent doing laundry – hand washing, loading and unloading the washing machine, hanging clothes out to dry and folding them. A much smaller proportion of time was spent in making and mending clothes (19 per cent of the total). Females contributed a total of 85 per cent of the total time spent in laundry and clothing related activities, with males contributing 15 per cent of the total. Females spent more than twice as much time on ironing than males spent in total on clothing related activities.

(Source: UK 2000 Time Use Survey/HHSA estimates)