But U.S. Women are Less Happy
This is Richard Posner at The Becker-Posner Blog:
Another article by Stevenson and Wolfers, “The Decline of Female Happiness,” [finds that]…in the United States men’s happiness is essentially unchanged since 1970, and women’s happiness has declined significantly… In 1970, the average woman was happier than the average man; today the reverse is true. In most other developed countries, average male and female happiness has grown, but male happiness has grown relative to female happiness…
They speculate (plausibly, in my opinion) that because women are on average more risk-averse than men, they find the range of career and relationship choices open to women nowadays a source of unhappiness.
Wasn’t it Picasso who declared that women were “suffering machines?”
Having reached adulthood in the 1980s, it’s hard for me to fully appreciate the gender roles prevalent prior to 1970. But I can see how the increased “range of career and relationship choices open to women” could easily increase men’s happiness. For instance, women in the work place might have increased job competition for men, but it also reduced the stress of being the sole breadwinner in the household.
Likewise, women’s increased relationship choices (arguably) benefited men, by giving men more relationship options outside of marriage.
Following Stevenson and Wolfers logic, the happiness derived from increased career and relationship choices was offset by the added stress from increased risk.
Conventional wisdom would have predicted just the opposite – that men’s happiness would fall while women’s would rise.
I think what is being said here is that women are less happy because they have been liberated.
Interesting observation. The more liberated women get, the less hapy they are. so what’s the answer? Return to the days when women were chattel?
Liberated? How?
Very funny, Joe. NOT
In 1970 and before, there were fewer divorced couples, meaning there were more “whole” families. Dads took care of the more menial tasks and the moms did the more feminine things, such as laundry; meal prep; house cleaning, and nurturing the children.
Couples also had projects that they worked on together which sometimes involved the children.
More couples attended church regularly receiving spiritual nourishment, and in so doing understood the functions of the family. This was a common bond.
Today, in single parent homes mom has to do everything alone. This is because either she does not want the dad around, or because he doesn’t want to be around. Shameful either way.
Because of this “single” situation, women are stressed to the breaking point. They become frustrated while trying to perform tasks that their husbands [if the men had any self respect] once performed. Of course there are other factors that play into this.
The one biggest factor of all is that since the early 1960’s more and more people have fallen away from God; they have left the church causing the erosion of the American family. They are no longer “equally yoked.”
This erosion has caused the “every man for himself” way of thinking. Now, where once you had a family that stood strong together, you have individuals that stand as far apart from each other as possible and the separation has caused weakness.
Remember what our fore fathers said, “United we stand . . . divided we fall.”
No surprise to me that women are less happy. Changes in the modern world have not worked in our favor, in general.
Do women really know what they want?
Today they have the power, the education and the freedom. But they still are not happy.