Many men are happiest when making an equal contribution to household chores, according to a University of Cambridge study that concludes what many women might have considered unimaginable。

男人在与妻子分担同等家务活时是最快乐的——这个来自剑桥大学的研究结果可能是许多女人难以想象的吧！

“Contrary to expectations, they found that men, not women, benefited from a less traditional gender¹ role divide in household chores,” the introduction to the study reads。

这项研究的介绍说，“出乎大家意料的是，他们发现，恰恰是男人，在从事家务活方面减少了性别不等的观念。”

And women weren’t the only ones left scratching their heads. The researchers themselves were surprised with the findings。

除了女人，男人在处理家务活上也伤透了脑筋。这也令研究者本身非常吃惊。

“The academics expected to find that men’s work-family conflict rose, and their well-being² fell, when they did more housework,” a University of Cambridge news release states. ”In practice, they found the opposite, with conflict falling, and well-being going up。”

剑桥大学新闻发布会上指出：“学术界普遍认为，当男人开始分担家务后，他们的工作和家庭比重开始失衡，幸福感也会降低。但实际上恰恰相反。男人因为从事家务活而变得矛盾减少，幸福感大大提升。”

The study was conducted across seven European countries and tens of thousands of participants were asked how much time they spent on tasks such as cooking, washing, cleaning, shopping and property maintenance. They then weighed work-life conflict with other measures of their well-being, which provided the surprising results。

此次研究对象的是从欧洲七个国家挑选出的数万名受试者。研究主要问及他们在烹饪，洗衣，打扫，购物以及物业维修上所花的时间。之后他们把工作和生活的冲突与影响幸福感的其他因素进行权衡，最后产生了惊人的结果。

Researchers attributed their findings to two factors: They believe more men support gender equality and women are more assertive³ than in the past。

研究者认为有两个原因导致其结果：如今男人更支持男女平等，女人比过去更加独立坚强。

The researchers said men are actually uncomfortable when they are not taking equal responsibility for housework. And history and habit might also contribute to such guilt。

研究者指出，现在的男人会因为没有承担相等的家务而不安。这种不安也有历史和习惯的原因。

“[The results] suggest that men may be uncomfortably conscious of work getting in the way of their doing a fair share of chores at home, whereas women have long been used to doing a ‘double shift,’” the introduction says。

”这项研究结果表明男人或许会因为没有承担和女人相等家务而不安，而女人一直以来都习惯于两人共同承担家务。“研究简介显示。

Women’s attitudes are also evolving, allowing them to voice their concerns. “Women are becoming more assertive and making their dissatisfaction with lazy partners plain,” the news release states。

女人这方面的态度在改变，开始明确表达出自己的感受。新闻发布会上指出，”当今女人更加独立，会对自己的另一半的懒惰感到不满“。

The research, titled “Gendered Lives,” which includes the findings on men and household chores, analyzes⁵ several other aspects of gender equality as well, including equality at home and in the workplace。

以”性别化生活“为标题的这项研究，主要包括男人和家务活之间的关系方面研究结果，同时还分析了男女在工作上和家庭上平等的其他几个方面。

While this aspect of the gender gap seems to be closing, the researchers saw mixed results in other areas。

虽然家务上的性别差异看起来告一段落，但研究者在其他领域上仍发现一些复杂的结果。

“Prospects⁶ for the future remain mixed. On the one hand, an investigation⁷ into the business case for closing the workplace gender gap was ‘not encouraging,’” the news release states. ”At the same time, however, there are grounds for optimism. Regardless of policy regimes, researchers found evidence that across Europe, the gap between women and men in terms of how much paid and unpaid⁸ work both do, is closing。”

“未来前景还有待明朗。再者，缩小职场性别差异的调研情况也并不乐观”，发布会上表示，”但与此同时，我们仍有理由保持积极态度。即使现存的政治制度无法改变，但研究者发现，在欧洲，男人和女人已经不再清楚计算各自该做多少有偿和无偿工作了。”

Overall, the researchers believe gender equality is moving, however slowly, in the right direction. “The conclusion is that as far as gender roles are concerned,” the book’s editors find, “there is staggered adaptation, rather than a stalled revolution。”

总之，研究者认为，即使两性平等发展速度缓慢，但却是朝着一个正确的方向进行着。“就目前的形式来看“，此书的编辑认为，”两性平等不会停滞不前，我们也将会逐渐适应这个趋势。“