Getting ready takes 21 mins

Women take 21 minutes to get ready to go anywhere, a survey of 2,000 women conducted on behalf of Marks and Spencer shows.

And the average woman uses the equivalent of 10 working days every year - 27 minutes a day - getting ready for work.

Getting ready for a night out with the girls takes 54 minutes and the care required or a night of romance will take most women 59 minutes, the research shows.

But the results do much more than simply enforce a sexist stereotype, showing that women still consider they are judged on their looks and presentation far more than men.

William Nelson, an analyst at the Future Foundation said: "Despite all their other a c c o m p l i s h m e n t s, women are still acutely concerned that they will be judged on appearance."

But if men think this means women are making themselves look beautiful to impress them at the office, they should think again.

Nine out of ten women in the survey said their own opinions are the only ones that count when it comes to what they wear to work.