Women are not as Happy!

Following my previous blog on happiness, my wife referred me to an interesting article in the New York Times (Sept 26, 2007). Entitled "A Reversal in the Index of Happy", it reports the findings of two new research papers on happiness.
.
One is a working paper by Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers, economists at Uni. of Pennsylvania. The other is a research paper which will be published in the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity. It is authored by a Princeton economist (Alan Krueger), who has worked with four psychologists onthe research.

Whilst the two studies employed different methodologies, their findings are similar. In gist, "since the 70s, men have passed women in contentment". There appears to be a growing happiness gap between men and women. Some other interesting points mentioned in the article:

1. Since the 1960s, men have gradually cut back on activities they find unpleasant. They now work less and relax more. Over the same span, women have replaced housework with paid work - and as a result, are spending almost as much time doing things they don't enjoy in the past.
2. "The second shift" theory (Hochschild, 1989) hypothesizes that modern women are less happy because they effectively had to hold down two jobs. The first shift was at the office, and the second at home.
3. What seems to be the most likely explanation for the happiness trends - is that women now have a much longer to-do list than they once did. They can't possibly get it all done, and many end up feeling as if they somehow fall short.

There is no question that the research have their limitations. Afterall, happiness is highly subjective. But who is to be blamed for the rising unhappiness of modern women?

• Modern women are more ambitious. A big reason that women reported being happier three decades ago - despite far more discrimination, is probably that they had narrower ambitions. Many compared themselves only to other women, rather than to men as well.


• Although women have flooded into the work force, the society hasn't fully come to grips with the change. The goverment should introduce more policies which are friendly towards the modern women, such as a pro-working mother policy.

But women, society and government policy are not to be blamed entirely. Inside of families, men still haven't figured out how to shoulder their fair share of the household burden. Instead, they are spending more time on the phone and in front of the television. Perhaps, this weekend, men should consider volunteering to do a little of dusting in the house.

Man, help increase your woman's happiness index!