Oprah.com: What's Happening to Women's Happiness?
… First, since 1972, women's overall level of happiness has dropped, both relative to where they were forty years ago, and relative to men. You find this drop in happiness in women regardless of whether they have kids, how many kids they have, how much money they make, how healthy they are, what job they hold, whether they are married, single or divorced, how old they are, or what race they are. (The one and only exception: African-American women are now slightly happier than they were back in 1972, although they remain less happy than African American men.) …
… The second discovery is, this: though women begin their lives more fulfilled than men, as they age, they gradually become less happy. Men, in contrast, get happier as they get older….
… For example, these trends are not caused by women working longer hours than men. …
… Nor are they caused by gender-based stereotyping. …
… Nor, surprisingly, is it caused by women bearing a disproportionate burden of the workload at home, the 'second-shift' as some have labeled it. …
Interesting article, but for the answer, the author says, "read my book." I bet that this has to do with unrealized expectations. Nearly every time a group experiences greater freedom and opportunity, happiness goes down. Before the change, one simply refused to have high expectations or reasoned that their lack of "achievement" was due to forces beyond their control and adapted. Once freedom emerges, expectations soar to unrealistic levels, and "excuses" for failure to achieve are eliminated. That is a lot of pressure. It takes a couple of generations to reach a healthy balance between expectations and reality. What do you think?
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