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On Gender Inequality and Life Satisfaction: Does Discrimination Matter?

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This paper analyzes the impact of gender discrimination on individual life satisfaction using a cross-section of 66 countries. We employ measures of discrimination of women in the economy, in politics, and in society more generally. According to our results, discrimination in politics is important to individual well-being. Overall, men and women are more satisfied with their lives when societies become more equal. Disaggregated analysis suggests that our results for men are driven by the effect of equality on men with middle and high incomes, and those on the political left. To the contrary, women are more satisfied with increasing equality independent of income and political ideology. Equality in economic and family matters does overall not affect life satisfaction. However, women are more satisfied with their lives when discriminatory practices have been less prevalent in the economy 20 years ago.

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  • Bjørnskov, Christian & Dreher, Axel & Fischer, Justina AV, 2007. "On Gender Inequality and Life Satisfaction: Does Discrimination Matter?," SSE/EFI Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance 657, Stockholm School of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:hastef:0657
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    1. Betsey Stevenson & Justin Wolfers, 2009. "The Paradox of Declining Female Happiness," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 1(2), pages 190-225, August.
    2. Justina A.V. Fischer, 2015. "Globalized Markets, Globalized Information, and Female Employment: Accounting for Regional Differences in 30 OECD Countries," AIEL Series in Labour Economics, in: Chiara Mussida & Francesco Pastore (ed.), Geographical Labor Market Imbalances. Recent Explanations and Cures, edition 1, chapter 13, pages Universit, AIEL - Associazione Italiana Economisti del Lavoro.
    3. Brule, Gael & Veenhoven, Ruut, 2012. "Why are Latin Europeans less happy? The impact of hierarchy," MPRA Paper 41925, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Haksoon Ahn & Susan J. Roll & Wu Zeng & Jodi Jacobson Frey & Sarah Reiman & Jungyai Ko, 2016. "Impact of Income Inequality on Workers’ Life Satisfaction in the U.S.: A Multilevel Analysis," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 128(3), pages 1347-1363, September.
    5. Dilek Yıldız & Hilal Arslan & Alanur Çavlin, 2021. "Understanding women’s well-being in Turkey," Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, vol. 19(1), pages 255-291.
    6. Xingmin Shi & Xueping Li & Xieyang Chen & Luping Zhang, 2022. "Objective air quality index versus subjective perception: which has a greater impact on life satisfaction?," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(5), pages 6860-6877, May.
    7. Yselle Flora Kuete Malah, 2021. "Is happiness in the hands of women?," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 41(2), pages 573-587.
    8. Christian Bjørnskov & Axel Dreher & Justina Fischer, 2008. "Cross-country determinants of life satisfaction: exploring different determinants across groups in society," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 30(1), pages 119-173, January.
    9. Nicola Matteucci & Sabrina Vieira Lima, 2016. "Women and happiness," Chapters, in: Luigino Bruni & Pier Luigi Porta (ed.), Handbook of Research Methods and Applications in Happiness and Quality of Life, chapter 19, pages 419-447, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    10. Fischer, Justina AV & Aydıner-Avşar, Nursel, 2015. "Are women in the MENA region really that different from women in Europe? Globalization, conservative values and female labor market participation," MPRA Paper 63800, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Boris Branisa & Stephan Klasen & Maria Ziegler & Denis Drechsler & Johannes Jütting, 2014. "The Institutional Basis of Gender Inequality: The Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI)," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(2), pages 29-64, April.
    12. Ozge Gokdemir & Emine Tahsin, 2014. "Factors that Influence the Life Satisfaction of Women Living in the Northern Cyprus," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 115(3), pages 1071-1085, February.
    13. Cem Başlevent & Hasan Kirmanoğlu, 2017. "Gender Inequality in Europe and the Life Satisfaction of Working and Non-working Women," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 107-124, February.

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    Keywords

    Gender gap; happiness; well-being; discrimination; life satisfaction;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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