Why does happiness elude modern women?

[RedBaron]

I never posted here but this is just too good not to share. A great commentary by Meghan Cox Gurdon in the Washington Examiner on the stark paradox of declining female happiness in a world that the feminist movement 35 years ago would not even have thought possible. In a nutshell, today women are in a position to pursue education, control fertility even when still too young to vote and have total freedom of choice. Yet, as it turns out, they're less happy than their "Hausfrau" counterparts in the dark and oppressed-by-men ages, deprived of all these rights and liberties.

Far from enhancing the lives of modern women...the feminist movement has diminished women's happiness and satisfaction

[brianvh]

The world's always easier when you don't have a choice.

[markc]

Show me the model by which "happiness and satisfaction" were measured 35 years ago and today,
and the control group that was used, and I might give Meghan Gurdon the time of day.



MarkC

[RedBaron]

All the commentary is referring to is a new study by Wharton academics Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers. No idea who they are and what their credentials are. But common sense (Brain sums it up) tells me that they are probably right. I showed the article to some of my female colleagues and they all agree.

I guess what we're talking about here are the angels in the sky promises by the feminist movement and the realization that any normal person will go nuts trying to juggle the demands of their careers and raising kids while trying to measure up to expectations that were never really theirs to begin with.

Today many women choose not to have children, not realizing all the fun and joy they miss out on. This is particularly true in the field of science where your life constantly seems to be at stake until you make tenure when you turn 40. It's wicked.

[brianvh]

It's related to African-American bitterness upon realizing winning civil rights didn't get them to the land of milk and honey. But would they go back?

Ask Leoni if she's happy now that she's back on your leash. Use those words exactly. I hear they're started putting magazines out in the emergency room for those who are simply waiting for stitches and an ice pack.

[RedBaron]

Brian, Brian, Brian, you're comparing apples with oranges here. A woman raising kids and keeping the family together while her husband is bringing home the dough every day has hardly got anything to do with enslaving African-Americans. Your comparison is quite offensive, to put it in polite words. This is about realizing that making a living to support a family (a cruel expectation for men that I don't think we ever started a civil rights movement over) isn't a lot of fun necessarily. Some women, when they eventually see through all the crap, pull the magic and go back 35 years. I wish I had that option.

As for my personal life, women have always been quite happy on my leash. Those who thought they weren't usually came around my way of thinking after they discovered the truth behind true equality.

Freedom of choice sounds like a nice thing, but when it's not guided you do nothing but open a floodgate.

[davidtheamazing1]

With more freedom comes more responsibility... could that be a factor?

[pink_albatross]

just from personal experience (unless I'm not a modern woman) I'm pretty happy... i know i'd be pretty unhappy if i didn't have my freedom.
-- ellis

[pink_albatross]

Hmm... tracked down the article:
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opini ... 70417.html

excerpt: "
Given the shifts “of rights and bargaining power from men to women in the past 35 years, holding all else equal, we might expect to see a concurrent shift in happiness towards women and away from men,” the authors write.

However, they have found, “measures of women’s subjective well-being have fallen both absolutely and relatively to that of men.”
"
end excerpt

I think the original study (not the Gurdon op-ed piece) is comparing the relationship of female versus male happiness from two different epochs.
As such, could it be possible that overall happiness has increased, but male happiness has increased more than female happiness? (not sure how to interpret the absolutely and relatively - the op-ed doesn't go into detail) Is it possible that the decreased pressure on the guys to be the sole breadwinners as well as having a bonafide partner to share the woes of everyday life with have increased male happiness to a greater extent than female happiness?

-- ellis

[brianvh]

Men get a less inhibited, more empowered woman with a greater range of experiences, a greater propensity to exercise, and more confidence to express herself.

Women still get a big ol' lunkhead.

Score points to Ellis.

[dbodner]

You also need to realize that there were two different, but simultaneous, revolutions: the woman's revolution and the sexual revolution. Each revolution affected men and women quite differently. And it's probably impossible to isolate the effects of each revolution.

[carweill]

Absolute statements for a study in subjective issues.
How is happiness defined in the study?
What is a modern woman?

The few opinions I heard from woman who lived in restrictive societies and experience a more open one, would seriously challenge the conclusion.
Of course the would include even more issues to have a valid study.

Carlos

[mcelrah]

Wow! I haven't visited here since Marco Z left. If a recidivist marry-er (Sallie is number three - 25 years) may comment - not that my experience makes me an expert witness (a lawyer sorta kinda tried that when introducing my testimony in someone else's divorce case - didn't work). A lot of things happened in the past generation in addition to the women's and sexual revolutions: blue-collar income stagnated while white-collar soared (lot's of unhappy blue collar men out there - including the one's with wives who out-earn them). It takes two incomes to hang on to "the American dream". Women can do anything now - so have a chance to be disappointed when they (the inevitable majority) make the realization in mid-life that they are not going to make GS-15/Senator/Admiral/vice president in charge of sales. Even the ones who make it to the top of the slippery pole get "is this all there is?". Men have had career disappointment forever, now women get it too, in addition to all the aging/body image stuff. [Now gays are going to get to experience divorce/alimony/child support...] Equal opportunity unhappiness! - Hugh