The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore study found that some in-control homemakers can go up to 100 times longer without sex than women who share the responsibility of making decisions.

The study found that woman in control, also take control in the bedroom because less sex may be a sign of women protecting their 'sexual rights'.

The research, which looked at women in six African countries where roles are clearly defined, looked at the level of decision making and compared it to their own accounts of their sexual relationships the Journal of Sex Research reported.

It found there was a clear link between those female house makers who took charge and the amount of sex they had.

"As the number of decisions in which women had the final say increased, the mean and median time since most recent sex also increased by three to 100-fold," lead author of the study and an associate professor Michelle Hindin said.

"The more decisions a woman reported making on her own, as compared to joint decision making, the less likely she was to have sex and the longer it was since she last had sexual intercourse."

Study co-author Carie Muntifering said this finding may in fact be controlled by choice rather than side effect as it suggests women in control of the household may have more control over how often they have sex.

"Understanding how women's position in the household influences their sexual activity may be an essential piece in protecting the sexual rights of women and helping them to achieve a sexual life that is both safe and pleasurable," she said.

"Additional studies are needed to further explore the strong association between women's decision-making power and recent sexual activity that was found in our analyses."