The international survey found that men spent longer watching television, meeting friends, playing sport or pursuing hobbies than the fairer sex.

　　The Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development, made up of the world's richest nations, said that British men ranked close behind France and America in the league table of countries where women work harder than men.

　　The report, released to mark International Women's Day, called for greater equality for women.

　　It said that "governments and firms need to do more to tackle the gender equality gap."

　　Previous OECD reports have suggested that the difference may be more to do with how each sex chooses to spend its time which was not taken into account in the new report.

　　The OECD concluded that shopping, soaking in the bath, grooming, having a lie-in or taking a long lunch all count as work rather than leisure.

　　If these are taken into account British men have only 10 minutes more spare time a day than women.

　　The report said: "Men universally report spending more time in activities counted as leisure than women. Gender differences in leisure time are wide across OECD countries."

　　The 32-minute leisure advantage for men in Britain compares with 38 minutes in the US, 33 minutes in France, 50 minutes in Belgium and 22 minutes in Germany.

　　Italian men spend nearly 80 minutes a day more than women on leisure time.

　　Across the OECD countries, 62 per cent of women have jobs, and women earn a fifth less than men, said the Daily Mail.

　　Officials said the gap was a result of women taking time off work to concentrate on bringing up their children.