Posted on 09/26/2007 7:55:34 AM PDT by reaganaut1
Two new research papers, using very different methods, have both come to this conclusion. Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers, economists at the University of Pennsylvania (and a couple), have looked at the traditional happiness data, in which people are simply asked how satisfied they are with their overall lives. In the early 1970s, women reported being slightly happier than men. Today, the two have switched places.
Mr. Krueger, analyzing time-use studies over the last four decades, has found an even starker pattern. 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 as in the past. Forty years ago, a typical woman spent about 23 hours a week in an activity considered unpleasant, or 40 more minutes than a typical man. Today, with men working less, the gap is 90 minutes.
These trends are reminiscent of the idea of “the second shift,” the name of a 1989 book by the sociologist Arlie Hochschild, arguing that modern women effectively had to hold down two jobs. The first shift was at the office, and the second at home.
But researchers who have looked at time-use data say the second-shift theory misses an important detail. Women are not actually working more than they were 30 or 40 years ago. They are instead doing different kinds of work. They’re spending more time on paid work and less on cleaning and cooking.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
The Marriage rate is way down, so of course more Men are happier
“The Marriage rate is way down, so of course more Men are happier”
That was my first thought. Women have made themselves less and less appealing with their constant struggle to be “empowered”. In reaction, men just avoid being tied to a single woman.
It’s also my experience that a woman is rarely happier than when she is directing some guy as to what work he should do. The absence of a man to direct would negatively impact a woman’s happiness.
(2) Working women were sold a bill of goods that working outside the home would be fulfilling and rewarding in ways that working inside the home could not be.
The harsh reality is that many, many jobs are neither rewarding or fulfilling - they just need to be done in order to pay the mortgage. Men already knew this and it doesn't really affect their happiness because they don't feel cheated by what work is really like.
This contradicts a great many claims that people are working more hours than ever.
I laid down the law with my wife, "You can tell me what to do, you can tell me how to do something. You do not get to do both."
I’m not surprised that full-time employment leads to more time spent doing things you don’t really want to do. The feminazi argument is that paid employment is more “fulfilling” than child-rearing and other work at home ... but why should that be true?
I’d be interested to know how many people with jobs really prefer being at their job to all the available alternatives. How many would go to their job each day, if they didn’t need the paycheck? How many are thrilled when it’s Monday morning, so they can get back to the job?
Amen brother .... I did the same - it works wonders!
He has cash to spend on bars, restaurants, sports events, concerts, cars, PCs, game systems, widescreen TVs, trips to Vegas, etc. He can go out pretty much any night of the week and he can generally find a steady stream of women who are up for casual sex with no strings attached.
But check back with the same individual at age 55 or so.
30 years of playing superficial games can bite pretty hard.
Oh, the humanity!
I think there are lots of women who'd rather work than stay home with small children. My wife, who's never said she'd have preferred to work, has been adamant since our first grandchild appeared on the scene that her stay at home daughters and daughters in law get some time away from their preschool age children at least once a week. And to tell you the truth, I can't think of a time one of them didn't take her up on the offer.
“This contradicts a great many claims that people are working more hours than ever.”
Not really. The author is not very good at communicating, but what I took from that is this:
Unpleasant activities = work, either at home, or at your place of business.
Men might actually be working more hours, but they are doing less in terms of unpleasant activites, (home repair, home improvement, yardwork, whatever you don’t like).
I would guess for some people the empowerment feeling could be it. They see the accomplishments of their work almost immediately. They get paid and something gets done. At home nothing ever really gets done and our work doesn’t leave for many years. My husband will talk about how he world 12 or more hours a day and needs to have a break when he comes home. I’m still waiting for mine.
Anyone asking if children are happier?
Grab her in your arms. Start to kiss her then pause and say, “You think you can do this better than me?”. Then kiss her silly. Repeat until she is speechless.
I don’t know about that. During the week - not just Mondays - when I drive 45* miles to DC to go to work, there are plenty of people passing me on the highway. I don’t drive slow - usually 65-70 - but some people pass me like I’m not moving at all. I think - they must have great jobs because it seems they are busting all land speed records to get there.
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