The Wharton School recently released a study on Women and Happiness and it made me a little sad. The research concluded that women are not as happy as they were 40 years ago, while men are getting a little happier. Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfer’s research, The Paradox of Declining Female Happiness discovered that even though the lives of women have considerably improved over the last 35 years their happiness has declined.
Could this be true?
If you are watching Mad Men and are appaled by the way women were regarded back in the 60’s you, like myself, are finding this idea that women are not as happy as they were back then hard to believe.
We’ve come a long way baby.
Today, compared to 40 years ago, women are more independent, wealthier, better educated, and healthier. Women around the world are running governments as powerful as Germany and companies as large as Pepsi. Today women are empowered live their best life. (Thank you Oprah) Women play competitive sports, join the army, play guitars and ride a Harley. Today women outnumber men enrolled in universities, as well as in the workforce, And yet they are not that happy.
The survey was extensive. Each year starting in 1972, the US General Social Survey examined men’s and women’s subjective well-being in the United States. Subjective well-being is measured by using the question:
“Taken all together, how would you say things are these days? Would you say that you are very happy, pretty happy, or not too happy?” (How would you answer the question?)
The survey sampled 46,000+ men and women of all ages, education levels, income status, by interviewing 1500-4500 people almost every year from 1972 to 2006- (too bad they stopped before 2009- this is not a good year for male happiness either!)
Here’s some of what they discovered:
1. Since 1972, women’s overall level of happiness had dropped relative to where they were forty years ago, and also relative to men.
2. This drop in happiness occurred in all types of women. Single, divorced, married with kids, married with no kids, rich, not rich, career driven, homemaker, healthy, all ages, and race. (The one exception is black women in America, who are a bit happier than they were in 1972, but still not as happy as black men.)
3. Not every woman’s women’s happiness dropped, some were as happy or happier than years past.
4. As women got older they got sadder.
5. Women are getting sadder and men are getting a little happier.
Women have come so far in the last 40 years. Betsey Stevenson, one of the co-authors of The Paradox of Declining Female Happiness looks on the bright side of this dark trend, suggesting that happiness is beside the point. Women are happy to have our new found abundance of choices, she said, even if those choices end up making us unhappier.
Women worry and worry makes women sad- Women who chose a career over family worry they made the wrong choice. Women who chose family over career worry thay they made the wrong choice. Women who try and do it al, career and family worry that they are going crazy...let's face it...all the choices keep us up at night. Women! It's time to start trusting ourselves, our choices and our gut. Be still and listen to your inner-voice and stop worrying.