Research: women in relationships get the wardrobe...

Whilst they may live and share their home together, Britons in relationships have areas of the home where they are likely to dominate the storage space.

For women, it’s the joint bedroom wardrobe whether they have more clothes or simply need to hang everything, and for men it’s the shelves in the bathroom with their male grooming products.

The survey was carried out by the team at home interiors specialist www.hillarys.co.uk, as part of an ongoing study into Britons’ home life experiences. 2,449 British women aged 18 and over, all of whom stated that they were in a long-term relationship and living with their partner, were quizzed about their home lives and how they cohabited.

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Initially, all respondents were asked ‘What are you most likely to bicker about with your partner?’ to which the top responses were ‘mine/my partner’s things taking over the home/room’ (37%) and ‘making plans without telling the other’ (28%).

All respondents were then asked ‘Do you share everything evenly within the home?’ which revealed that just one in five British couples do (21%). When asked what they were likely to have larger “ownership” over, ‘storage space’ (59%), ‘control of the TV’ (47%) and ‘favourite foods/drinks’ (31%) were revealed as the top aspects.

All respondents were asked which areas of the home they felt that either they or their partner dominated the most (in terms of items kept in that area/room). When provided with a list of possible responses and told to select all those that applied, as well as who had the larger share, the top responses were revealed as:

Wardrobe (female) - 68%

The bathroom cabinet (male) - 63%

Garage (male) - 61%

Cupboard under the stairs (male) - 57%

Kitchen cupboards (female) - 52%

Those who stated that they took over the majority of the wardrobe space were asked how their partner coped with this, with the top responses being ‘he doesn’t own as many clothes as I do’ (40%) and ‘he uses drawer space to make up for the lack of wardrobe space’ (36%).

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When asked how the men took over the shelving in the bathrooms, over half of the relevant respondents (53%) stated that this space was for male grooming products, including shaving products, hair gels and spot treatments.

Tanya Irons, spokesperson for www.hillarys.co.uk, said: “This makes a lot of sense, despite it seeming rather stereotypical; we women do have a lot of clothes, needing outfits for all occasions. We weren’t, however, expecting to see that men take up a lot of the space in the bathroom with their grooming products. It’s not possible to entirely share everything within the home 50/50, but as long as you can agree and compromises are made where they need to be made, relationships should remain harmonious.”