The paradox of women’s well-being: Why they report higher happiness despite worse mental health

Each gender inequality that women face slowly chips away at their wellbeing, gradually undermining various aspects of their lives. They earn less, are more likely to experience unemployment, spend more time on housework and caregiving, are underrepresented in politics and leadership roles, and are at a greater risk of sexual harassment. The list of structural disadvantages is long, and its repercussions are far-reaching. These inequalities also impact women’s health and well-being, which are key indicators of quality of life. According to scientific literature, there is another gender gap that is marked by curious paradoxes that have left experts puzzled.

A scientific review published on Wednesday in Science Advances has precisely analyzed gender gaps in well-being — whether they exist and persist despite social progress — and has explored a couple of contradictions within this field. The authors investigated, for instance, how it is possible for women to report higher levels of happiness while experiencing worse mental health outcomes, or why, despite social and economic advancements for women in recent decades, their well-being levels, compared to those of men, have decreased.

The researchers acknowledge significant variability between countries, noting that these apparent contradictions don’t hold true everywhere. However, they confirm the existence of a gender gap in well-being, attributing it to a combination of biological factors, cultural influences, and differences in how well-being scales are applied. The bottom line: global evidence points to a decline in women’s well-being, particularly in terms of emotional distress.

The research focused on subjective well-being, which refers to how a person perceives and describes their quality of life. “Our study analyzes and explores gender disparities in well-being. There are two disconcerting contradictions that we aimed to investigate: why they exist, whether they persist in different countries, and what really drives them,” says Caspar Kaiser, a researcher at the University of Oxford and the study’s author, in an email response.

Regarding the first paradox — the gap between women’s reported happiness and their health outcomes and emotional distress — the authors examined evidence on mental health and pain. They found that women “systematically” report worse mental health, including higher levels of depression, irritability, and anxiety.

“These disparities are observed globally: Across most world regions, women feel much less safe at night and are more worried, sad, and depressed. These gaps are particularly consistent in Latin America and Western Europe,” the authors note in the article.

They further connect this gap in mental health to physical health outcomes, particularly in terms of increased susceptibility to pain. Women are at greater risk of suffering from various chronic pain conditions compared to men, and they are also more sensitive to pain, according to the study.

Scientists attribute this gender gap in mental health to social norms and traditional gender roles: “Women often face societal expectations that emphasize caregiving, emotional expressiveness, and compliance, leading to increased psychological distress,” the study notes. They also experience more stress from trying to balance domestic and work responsibilities.

Another explanation is that cultural norms encourage boys to be competitive and emotionally restrained, while girls are taught to be empathetic and nurturing. Moreover, girls are more likely to “internalize stressors, leading to higher instances of rumination, a known predictor of depression.” “These social norms could contribute to higher rates of depression and related negative emotional states in women,” the study adds.

The authors also acknowledge the possibility that biological factors may contribute to this gender gap in mental health. For example, they suggest that women may experience higher rates of “negative affect” — emotional distress and aversive moods such as guilt, nervousness, fear, and disgust — due to “greater fluctuations in reproductive hormones across their life span.”

Hormones and expectations

However, this gap in mental and physical health between men and women contrasts with reports of life satisfaction. The authors state that, according to scientific literature, women consistently report higher levels of life satisfaction and happiness than men. This pattern is common across many regions of the world, although they acknowledge it is not always consistent across studies. In fact, a recent study suggests that in Europe and the U.S., women are no longer more satisfied or happy, particularly since the coronavirus pandemic.

The researchers attribute this first paradox to a mix of biological, cultural, and methodological factors. They note that hormonal fluctuations can influence the perception of well-being, but also that differing expectations for men and women — shaped by “social norms, cultural values, and personal experiences” — can affect how individuals report their well-being. For example, they point out that some studies show that, despite having lower salaries and fewer promotions, women often report greater job satisfaction, likely because they have lower initial expectations. Another explanation they propose is that differences between men and women in interpreting and responding to surveys on well-being could lead to gender variation in answers.

In their review, the scientists examined whether the evidence supports this paradox and found a diverse pattern across countries. This apparent contradiction is not always true. Their research concludes that, while a negative gap in emotional distress (disadvantaging women) is observed in all regions of the world, the positive gap in life evaluation (favoring women) has only been identified in the Middle East and North Africa, the Americas, and Asia. High life satisfaction is not seen in Europe, the former Soviet Union, or sub-Saharan Africa. “The gender well-being paradox is real but not universal. In the raw data, it is observed in 36% of countries, covering 32% of the population,” the article concludes.

According to Kaiser, this diversity suggests, “that gender differences in well-being cannot be explained by a single universal theory: well-being is determined by culture, (informal) social norms, and (formal) policies.”

Decline in women’s well-being

Regarding the other contradiction revealed by scientific literature — the decline in women’s well-being despite improvements in equality over recent decades — the authors again observe varying patterns between countries but ultimately conclude that women’s well-being has indeed declined, particularly in terms of pain and emotional distress. “This means that even in countries where women have made significant economic progress, they still report feeling more overwhelmed and emotionally tense,” says Kaiser.

To explain this phenomenon, the scientists hypothesize that women are likely not benefiting equally from economic and social progress. In fact, they suggest that improvements in areas like health or education tend to benefit men’s well-being more than women’s. “In European countries, greater gender equality in economic and political, education, and health dimensions does not necessarily lead to higher well-being for women compared to men,” they point out.

Another possible explanation is what they refer to as “the double burden” — the fact that changes in women’s social roles have increased their workload, as they are now expected to balance domestic responsibilities with their participation in the labor market. “In Europe, for instance, data indicate that, in countries with greater gender equality and progressive norms, women report more frequent work-family conflicts, leading to reduced overall positive affect,” the authors explain.

Another explanation scientists are considering is a shift in women’s expectations. “As opportunities increase, women set higher goals, and when reality fails to satisfy them, they experience more stress and frustration,” explains Kaiser.

The Oxford scientist argues that the main conclusion of his research “is that economic gender equality (for example, in education and work) alone does not guarantee greater well-being for women.” “Policymakers need to go beyond economic measures and focus on mental health and emotional well-being. At the same time, they should recognize that disparities in well-being vary across cultures, meaning that one-size-fits-all solutions are unlikely to be effective,” he reflects.

Kaiser also admits that many questions remain about the gender gap in well-being: “Further research is needed to explore how men and women interpret well-being differently, whether self-reporting biases influence results, how informal gender norms shape well-being gaps across cultures, and whether women assess their well-being using different benchmarks than men in different countries.”

Judit Vall, a professor of Economics at the University of Barcelona, says she is not surprised by the results showing a decline in some dimensions of female well-being despite advances in equality. “There are many factors that explain this evolution, but one key factor is that we’ve identified gender biases in the labor market when women have children. Women are penalized more because they experience a loss in salary, and additionally, the risk of taking antidepressants increases after the first child. This does not happen with men,” explains Vall, who was not involved in this study. “We enter the labor market with aspirations, but we are still in charge of the children, and that generates more pressure.”

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