THE more women contribute to the household finances compared with their male partners, the less housework they do, research shows - but only up to a point.

This happy relationship comes unstuck when women earn a lot more than their husbands and partners.

Women who contribute 70 per cent or more of the weekly income start doing more housework rather than less, the study shows. They put in a little more time cleaning and cooking than a woman who contributes half to the family finances.

The study, by Janeen Baxter and Belinda Hewitt, of the University of Queensland, shows that women gain more leverage over who does the housework as their earnings increase compared with their husbands'.

"No one wants to do housework but it has to be done," Dr Hewitt, a post-doctoral research fellow at the Institute for Social Science Research, said. "But as a woman earns more money, it gives her more say over how much domestic work she has to do."

The theory that the person in the household with the most financial resources has the greatest bargaining power goes only so far to explain the gender division of labour.

In the few Australian households - about 5 per cent - where women contribute 70 per cent or more to the budget, other sensitivities come into play. "For these women, doing extra housework is about compensating for their husbands not fulfilling the traditional male breadwinner role," Dr Hewitt said.

In Australia, where married women commonly work part-time, the tradition of the male breadwinner remained particularly strong. Women in atypical arrangements might feel a stronger need to perform the female role, she said.