Couples often disagree about who does more housework. Part of that disagreement reflects real differences in behaviour. But part of it is perception: what each person notices, remembers and counts as “work”.

That same problem turns out to influence the research that feeds headlines about gender equality at home. Many household surveys ask just one person to report how much housework both partners do. My research shows that this seemingly minor design choice – whether the husband or the wife in a heterosexual couple answers – can fundamentally change what the data appears to say about money, gender and chores.

For decades, researchers have tried to understand how couples divide housework when both partners earn money. Two broad explanations dominate the debate.

One focuses on economics. Exchange and bargaining theories predict that the higher earner does less unpaid work at home, because their time has a higher opportunity cost and more negotiating power. From this perspective, as women’s earnings rise, their share of housework should fall, while men’s should rise.

The other explanation emphasises gender norms. Sociologists have argued that when couples depart from the traditional male-breadwinner model – especially when wives earn more than their husbands........

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