"Well, this was bound to happen," he tweeted. "Woman [sic] would rather be employee of the month in the sales department instead of fulfilling their natural destiny, to get married, have kids, and live a fulfilling happy life. Now they dine alone and they die alone. Very sad."

Very sad indeed that someone thinks like this. I'm assuming you weren't being sarcastic. (Does anyone else wish there was a sarcastic font? Would be much easier to read.)

In fact, there's research out this week that suggests unmarried, childless women are the happiest subgroup in the population.

Now we've long heard that married people are the happiest among us. But Paul Dolan, a professor of behavioural science at the London School of Economics, said the latest evidence showed the traditional markers used to measure success did not correlate with happiness - particularly marriage and raising children.

He summed it up with one of the best lines of the year.

"Married people are happier than other population subgroups, but only when their spouse is in the room when they're asked how happy they are. When the spouse is not present: f---ing miserable," he said.

"We do have some good longitudinal data following the same people over time, but I am going to do a massive disservice to that science and just say: if you're a man, you should probably get married; if you're a woman, don't bother."

In this latest book, Happy Ever After, he cites evidence from the American Time Use Survey which compared levels of pleasure and misery in unmarried, married, divorced, separated and widowed individuals. The study found that levels of happiness reported by those who were married was higher than the unmarried, but only when their spouse was in the room. Unmarried individuals reported lower levels of misery than married individuals who were asked when their spouse was not present.

He said men benefit from marriage because they "calm down", taking less risks, earning more money, they even live a little longer. But married women die sooner, earn less, and in middle age are at a higher risk of physical and mental conditions than their single counterparts.

He said it could well be the stigma attached to being a single, childless by choice woman that could lead some women to feel unhappy.

"You see a single woman of 40, who has never had children - 'Bless, that's a shame, isn't it? Maybe one day you'll meet the right guy and that'll change.' No, maybe she'll meet the wrong guy and that'll change. Maybe she'll meet a guy who makes her less happy and healthy, and die sooner."

You have to love Professor Dolan's healthy attitude.

I came across his research on The Representation Project, a campaign which inspires individuals and communities to challenge limiting gender stereotypes and shift norms, using film and media as catalysts for cultural transformation.

Here, it lead with the idea that perhaps married women would be happier if there was a more equal division of labour in marriage.

A 2018 study from the University of Melbourne, entitled Who is doing what on the homefront? analysed the data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey of more than 17,000 people has looked at how heterosexual couples have been dividing up their share of paid and unpaid work since 2002, and whether they think that division is fair.

While the data showed that we're becoming less traditional in our attitudes towards parenting and work, the thinking isn't leading to equal division of work between men and women at home.

Women still do seven hours more housework per week than men and, based on current trends, it will take another 30 years before both genders do the same amount of housework.

Before the birth of the first child, couples share the work relatively equally but a baby changes that.

Even 10 years after the birth the woman is still only back to 30 per cent employment, while doing 63 per cent of the housework and 66 per cent of care.

I recognise that many women, myself included, want to work part time and care for their children at home. It's all about choice. And so is being single and childless.

And, in the end, happiness is a choice too. That's the most important realisation.