Wharton School’s Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers published a study in May that’s been dubbed “The Paradox of Declining Female Happiness.” The title kinda says it all, but the gist is that, while, 35 years ago or so, women reported being happier than men, today women–regardless of marital or employment status or whether or not they have kids–report being unhappier than men. And, as one might imagine, dozens of articles came out in the wake of that study, riffing on the whys.
From the Sunday London Times:
There’s plenty more opportunities for women than there used to be–but then again, that means you are always questioning whether the moves you have made are correct, or whether you should have done something else.
From BusinessWeek:
Over the last 50 years, women have secured greater opportunity, greater achievement, greater influence, and more money. But over the same time period, they have become less happy, more anxious, more stressed, and, in ever-increasing numbers, they are medicating themselves for it,’ says management thinker and author Marcus Buckingham… ‘Better education and job opportunities and freedoms have decreased life happiness for women.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve got a bit of a problem with that assessment. (Not least because it’s coming from a guy.) The Washington Examiner’s Marta Mossburg had this to say:
Too many choices or opportunities can paralyze rather than inspire. Men are used to this. For women, opportunity is still a relatively new phenomenon, and often a confusing one.
and
Women’s declining happiness in the face of greatly expanded freedoms should come as no surprise. But neither should a reversal of the trend once they have the time to get used to it.
That I can get behind. What about you? What do you think? Does this idea get your hackles up, or do you think there might be a kernel of not-so-convenient truth in there? Would you be happier if your only career options were teacher, secretary, nurse; what if our society was down with arranged marriages, for that matter? And, okay, we’ll be happier once we get used to it. Swell. But in the meantime, we’re living our lives now, wishing we were just a tad happier than we are… So how do we get there?
I think that throughout our lives, regardless of what the issue is, we all wonder what might have been had we followed a different course and questioning whether or not we made the right choice once we finally committed to a decision. Is this because women have more choices now or would we always feel that way just because we never pursued the other course? If we only had 2 job choices and both were somewhat intriguing, but we chose one and stuck to it, wouldn’t we wonder what might have been had we taken the other course? So, with thousands of career choices, it seems inevitable that we would wonder “what if” because you leave so many options untouched.
But with so many choices and so many opportunities, it seems like women can now choose careers that they want to pursue rather than doing something they have to do. Unfortunately, our society seems to encourage us to seek out jobs that pay the most money rather than jobs that we enjoy. Finding a high-paying job you love isn’t easy. Of course we all need money to live, but is it worth doing something that causes so much stress just to have the money? And what’s the point of being rich if you can’t enjoy it? Perhaps the women that are the most anxious, stressed and medicated are those that are pursuing high-paying, high-stress jobs that they hate – jobs that in the past may have been held primarily by men.
[…] the happiness gap: “… with so many choices and so many opportunities, it seems like women can now choose careers […]
Back when my mom was in her 20’s and early 30’s it was very easy for my folks to afford a decent upper-middle-class lifestyle on a single income. My dad was only expected to work 45-50 hrs/wk even as an executive. There was a lot more job security for him as well. He only got downsized once, and even then he was offered another position within the company (he turned it down as it would’ve required relocation).
Being a mom was a lot easier too. My mom never worried about 90% of the stuff that I have to be concerned about.
I got here thru the Marcus Buckingham tag… Ugh. Marcus Buckingham who said: “women have secured greater opportunity, greater achievement, greater influence, and more money.”
is now writing columns for HuffPo to tell us women how to be happier. Just after I published my post I starting thinking, well maybe he was just messing with us, and in the next column he will detail the ways in which women haven’t advanced… but the quote you give makes it clear that he totally buys into the myth that feminists got everything they ever dreamed of.
[…] and Justin Wolfers, called “The Paradox of Declining Female Happiness” that I first wrote about in July got a lot of attention this week. First, from self-helpuru Marcus Buckingham on the […]
[…] something less about the self, something more collective going on. You’ve read the study: Women’s happiness is on the decline. So it makes sense that, as a whole, we’re hungry. We’re in a state of transition, […]
[…] be happy — and making us feel guilty because we are not. Or the incessant volleys about the paradox of women’s declining happiness. But, frankly, despite the wealth of books, blogs, life coaching and, yep, even college courses […]
That is a good tip particularly to those new to the blogosphere. Brief but very accurate information… Thank you for sharing this one. A must read article!