BBC future conducted a study to test the common theory that women, generally speaking, are cleaner than their male counterparts.
By testing an equal number of women and men from the same office environment, taking skin swabs and sending them to a lab for analysis, the study found that there was similar bacteria on both genders. However, a 2012 study found that the work desks of women have a lower bacterial load than the work desks of men.
Additionally, men’s armpits secrete far more bacteria than women’s, creating more body odour than in women.
The American Society for Microbiology has been studying hand washing in the bathrooms since 1999. Their findings? That while 93 per cent of women do wash their hands after going to the bathroom, only 77 per cent of men do the same; despite over 90 per cent claiming to have done so.
Evidently, while there is still data needed to show that women are genetically programmed to be cleaner than men, it seems females do tend to have the upper hand when it comes to cleanliness.
