London, Apr 5 (IANS): A new study has shown that women are compelled to give up their careers as their husbands refuse to share household work with them.

The research led by Cornell University showed that women are more likely to give up their high flying jobs or take on less demanding roles if their husbands work long hours.

Youngjoo Cha, a sociologist from Cornell University, found that women whose husbands work more than 60 hours per week are 42 percent more likely to leave their jobs than women whose partners work fewer hours.

The probability of professional women quiting their job increases by more than half when their husbands work 60 hours or more per week. Moreover, those who also have children the likelihood that they will resign increases by 112 percent.

"The norm of overwork systematically disadvantages women, who are less likely to work long hours because of the expectation that they will have primary care-giving responsibilities and do more housework than men," telegraph.co.uk quoted Cha as saying.

She added: "As long work-hours introduce conflict between work and family into many dual-earner families, couples often resolve conflict in ways that prioritise husbands' careers.

"This effect is magnified among workers in professional and managerial occupations, where the norm of overwork and the culture of intensive parenting tend to be strongest.

"The findings suggest that the prevalence of overwork may lead many dual-earner couples to return to a separate spheres arrangement - breadwinning men and homemaking women."