News.com.au reports the research, published in the Journal of Health and Social Behaviour, revealed the large extent of the gender exercise gap, finding 28 per cent of women reported doing three physical activities a week in comparison with 34 per cent of their male partners.

Researchers said “hour for hour, paid or unpaid, women’s physical activity is constrained by their time use in ways that men’s is not”.

“Although men generally spend longer hours on the job than women do … this ‘buys’ them less and different types of family work.” the researchers wrote.

The website reported Australian National University study co-author, Professor Lyndall Strazdins, said that women’s physical activity dropped by more than six per cent whenever their family or paid work hours increased, in comparison to men’s mere two per cent drop.

Read the full report here.