Are Men Happier Than Women?
Posted on 14. Mar, 2010 by Lounge Lady in Essence
The modern woman is increasingly having a decision-making power of her own with more access to needed resources and a range of options from which she can make choices. She exercises assertiveness rather than passiveness and has developed confidence in her own capacities for independence. She is glamorous, in control and yet maternal, juggling the acts of raising children, holding down a job and sustaining a relationship.
We are fast approaching the day that women rights activists and feminists have been dreaming about and fighting for, the day when women all over the world can be given opportunities to achieve their dreams without any form of cultural, societal or religious restraints.
Whether the day will ever come or not, we really don’t know, but what we do know for sure is that we are closer to it than ever before. Now, that is a huge success and should be good news, except for the recent concerns that our progress might be opening a new gender gap!
Women Empowerment as we knew it might be increasingly having new meanings to the modern woman, while our mothers’ generation’s major contention was against marginalization at home, at work and in the society at large, it seems the monster we will have to contend with is even bigger and uglier. Unlike them also, we might be making lesser demands for our rights from the men folk and the government, and for the first time in the history of women’s rights advocacy, we would have to turn to ourselves for the answer to the question we ask.
The increased opportunities to succeed in many ways for women may be bringing new challenges right to their doorsteps. With greater ambition, fiercer competition and an unending to do list, they now have a higher standard to evaluate themselves by. Measuring up to every inch of that standard is however not without consequences.
“The Paradox of Declining Female Happiness,” a controversial study conducted by Wharton Academics Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers, has suggested that the new pursuit for women might be bigger than their fight against inequality and discrimination, that women are now confronted with a challenge of finding happiness in the midst of all their victories. Other Researchers are also showing that as it turns out, the closing gap in social and economic inequalities between men and women has a directly proportional influence on the happiness and well being of modern women.
This intriguing and unsettling study is suggesting that a new gender gap is emerging, one in which men are absolutely more contented and happier than women.
Is it true that the more women achieve, the more they seem aggrieved? Are we biting more than we can chew, or just haven’t learnt how to grind well enough for us to be able to swallow with ease?
With women’s increasing accomplishments and tremendous prospect in various endeavors, how could they be unhappy? If they are really unhappy, from whom would they demand their right to happiness?
Truth be told, women today are not living in the happiest of times; they have much more to worry about than their mothers did when they were their age! The talk on layoffs, increased crime rate, slowdowns in the economy, red alerts on terrorism and all their kinds, leaves them financially insecure, stressed out and tired, as they juggle jobs and families. They are overwhelmed by huge responsibilities and have to make informed decisions daily.
Like a bully that has been dared, it seems, unhappiness wants to lock us into a prison. We have demanded respect and equality from the society, but from whom would we demand a release from unhappiness other than ourselves.
Now you tell us, are men happier than women?
Source – Femme Library
lailai! i no gree, women are happier than men, any day , no matter how full their hands are.
hmmn, interesting school of thought. i think the key to happiness is fulfilment, so its important for every woman to find what truly makes her fulfilled.
hmmm interesting…. i have to agree though, although will want to see the full article to see how they came up with statistical significance. cos sometimes it might just be that they asked questions that will produce said result
This is an interesting research and the results that were obtained. I tend to agree with them to the extent that the world is at a stressful stage for everyone and when women are bearing the brunt of it what can the outcome be? Men are getting help from their wives bringing home the money but are women getting the same on the home front?
Bn fulfilled in all sphere of ones life brings happiness,bt in d case of man bn happier dan woman is true bcos woman faces a lot of insecurity @ work,in thier relationship,evn frm d in-laws
I think i have to agree with myne,we are at the age of no more woman liablity,and so the woman is fast becoming the bread winner and men are somewhat taking the backseat.However,i do not think the men are more happier,i believe women are more happier in the sense that there are more leaders,more politicians and more education savvy women now than it used to be.women are now gaining momentum,so why exactly should we be sad?
Interesting topic.
First of all -
“Is it true that the more women achieve, the more they seem aggrieved?”
– Absolutely not. We certainly have our hands full, in general we seem to have to juggle more than men. And I certainly look forward (with optimism) to the day when we can finally say that men and women all around the world are “equal” in all aspects of life – both at home and at work, in every sense.
But are men happier than women in general? I don’t know. It’s too much of a generalization. I think it depends on a whole lot of factors – I’d be interested if the study was a little more specific… i.e. Which women did they survey? What socioeconomic groups, career levels, responsibilities, etc?
I find this pretty interesting nonetheless. Thanks for sharing!
….and I think all the comments above have brought up interesting points! I agree with Myne – more equality at work, but can the same be said for the average family at home? Something has to give…
& I agree with Neefemi – “sometimes it might just be that they asked questions that will produce said result” …
Yep. Would be nice to see the complete article, who exactly they surveyed, what questions they asked, how they came up with their results…
In a society where the woman keeps trying to e ahead in the mist of men are bosses, women have come out from the shadows of there men, not to be pushed to the wall anymore but yet der are still issues,emotional issues, inlaws, society its endless, man can find joy in litle thing, women however are in the pursuit of happiness, which is relative.
hapiness means different thingds to different people, so may never know whose happier, the men or the women
Yes its very true that men are happier than women.What you have to know is that men always have peace of mind than women do.Women feel themselves as inferiors so they put everything in heart.
women are not finding things easy these days because they have to put out so many ‘fires’ most times alone and without the man’s help.yet they have made up their minds to be happy and continue keeping on.women today have their plates full yet are fulfilled,confident and successful.
Thank you for tale!
Very interesting and somehow right… these times, women are being liberated and chasing new dreams, career, family etc.
True, some of us are taking more than we can handle cuz we are Superwomen…
All these new sense of purpose and achievement can cause stress and sometimes unhappiness and as Men realise we are striving for control, some of them let us have it, hence the view that they may be happier than us…
my 2 cents
I’m not sure I agree that there is a gender gap in happiness. I would have to go with Neefemi since the exact perimeters of the study will have to be known before any judgement can be made.
In my opinion, people are generally more unhappy today than in the past because we no longer live in simple times. Paradoxically, in an age of easy communication and widespread technology, people are more isolated than ever before. Someone told me people now have more “facebook friends” than true companions they can actually count on… I don’t think this has anything to do with gender; it is just the turn which society has taken.
i belong to the school of thought that women are happier not because am a woman but its easier for a to find happiness within her while men depends on others
i really want to say that happiness is relative and individualistic, so it’s quite hard to pin it down on one gender. Women all over the world are going a lot of hard times, from home front to work to church. Am not a feminist though, i think the burdens women are made to carry are too much , burden of rape, incest , heartbreaks ,childbearing. housekeeping, work. But there is one Person that makes all the difference, It’s God , He brings in joy and happiness to our hearts if we let Him.