ACROSS the Western world, women greatly outnumber men in lower-level jobs, such as clerical and administrative positions, whereas managerial and senior jobs are mostly held by men. As our International section explains, this gender gap at work is largely due to the “motherhood penalty” that women’s careers suffer after they have children. Something more subtle could be part of the problem.

Earlier this year The Economist and YouGov, a pollster, asked people in eight countries how they balance career and family. Men were on average only half as likely as women to think that, in their family, the majority of household and child-care duties fell on the woman’s shoulders. And they were more likely than women to say that such tasks were split equally.

We also asked which partner had scaled back at work when their first child arrived, by reducing working hours or by switching to a part-time or a less demanding job (for example, a role that required less travel or overtime). Another perception gap emerged. In each country, both men and women were less likely to say that their partner had made adjustments than members of the opposite sex were to say they had made adjustments themselves.

Perceptions in France differed most: 55% of women said that they, and only they, had slowed down at work, twice as high as the share of men who said that only their partners had done so. The difference was smallest in Denmark, the country in our poll that had the largest shares of both men and of women saying that neither partner had made adjustments. (Denmark has one of the world’s most generous child-care systems.)

Though it is unclear whether men or women are more accurate, many people are obviously ignorant about the reality of their partners’ lives. And even if men are open to doing more at home so their wives can do more at work, the necessity may not occur to them. Gender equality could be boosted by some frank kitchen-table conversations.

How do you and your partner compare?

Answer the same two questions in our (very short) interactive quiz, along with your partner, and see whether your answers match up.