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The Paradox of Declining Female Happiness

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  • Stevenson, Betsey
  • Wolfers, Justin

    (University of Michigan)

Abstract

By many objective measures the lives of women in the United States have improved over the past 35 years, yet we show that measures of subjective well-being indicate that women’s happiness has declined both absolutely and relative to men. The paradox of women’s declining relative well-being is found across various datasets, measures of subjective well-being, and is pervasive across demographic groups and industrialized countries. Relative declines in female happiness have eroded a gender gap in happiness in which women in the 1970s typically reported higher subjective well-being than did men. These declines have continued and a new gender gap is emerging ? one with higher subjective well-being for men.

Suggested Citation

  • Stevenson, Betsey & Wolfers, Justin, 2009. "The Paradox of Declining Female Happiness," IZA Discussion Papers 4200, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4200
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    job satisfaction; women's movement; gender; happiness; life satisfaction; subjective well-being;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D6 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • J7 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination
    • K1 - Law and Economics - - Basic Areas of Law

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