Women are more likely to cheat on men who fail to pull their weight when it comes to household chores, according to a major French study.

A poll of 10,000 female subscribers to Gleedon – a top site for married and unfaithful people – suggests that the best way to a woman's heart is by doing the dishes and the vacuum cleaning.

Some 73 per cent of female members of the site quizzed on the matter claimed that they were driven to infidelity because their partner was found wanting in the housework department, from cleaning the toilet to emptying the washing machine.

Gleeden, which began in France but is now present in several countries, launched the wide-ranging poll in an attempt to pinpoint the key reason women were tempted to go astray.

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The overwhelming motive was: "He didn't play enough of a role in daily household chores," reported French website LeBonbon.

Some 86 percent of respondents said they were deeply frustrated by their man's tendency to avoid housework and 84 per cent admitted to it having caused arguments.

Overburdened, women dreamed of forgetting the rubber gloves in another's arms, the poll suggested.

This will be cause for concern for many French men, who are decidedly recalcitrant when it comes to housework. According to a survey last year by French statistics agency INSEE, which found that women in France still carry out two thirds of domestic chores, even there has been some improvement of late.

This tallies with recent figures released in the UK suggesting that white British males do 31 per cent of the house chores, spending around six hours doing cooking, cleaning washing, ironing and so on compared to 14 hours for women. However, black British men were far more egalitarian, doing around 40 per cent of the chores.

It is not all one-way traffic however; a 2014 Ifop poll found that 55 per cent of French men and 32 per cent of French women are unfaithful and that infidelity is on the rise but that the French are champions of forgiveness. The poll made no mention of housework.