Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/35564 
Year of Publication: 
2009
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 4200
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
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.
Subjects: 
Subjective well-being
life satisfaction
happiness
gender
job satisfaction
women's movement
JEL: 
D6
I32
J1
J7
K1
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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