Gender Differences in Subjective Well-Being In and Out of Management Positions

Abstract

SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research at DIW BerlinThis series presents research findings based either directly on data from the German SocioEconomic Panel Study (SOEP) or using SOEP data as part of an internationally comparable data set (e.g. CNEF, ECHP, LIS, LWS, CHER/PACO). SOEP is a truly multidisciplinary household panel study covering a wide range of social and behavioral sciences: economics, sociology, psychology, survey methodology, econometrics and applied statistics, educational science, political science, public health, behavioral genetics, demography, geography, and sport science.The decision to publish a submission in SOEPpapers is made by a board of editors chosen by the DIW Berlin to represent the wide range of disciplines covered by SOEP. There is no external referee process and papers are either accepted or rejected without revision. Papers appear in this series as works in progress and may also appear elsewhere. They often represent preliminary studies and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be requested from the author directly.Any opinions expressed in this series are those of the author(s) and not those of DIW Berlin.Research disseminated by DIW Berlin may include views on public policy issues, but the institute itself takes no institutional policy positions. AbstractThis study used data from the German Socio-economic Panel to examine gender differences in the extent to which self-reported subjective well-being was associated with occupying a high-level managerial position in the labour market, compared with employment in nonleadership, non-high-level managerial positions, unemployment, and non-labour market participation. Our results indicated that a clear hierarchy exists for men in term of how status within the labour market was associated with subjective life satisfaction. Unemployed men were the least satisfied, followed by men who were not in the labour market, while men in leadership positions reported the highest level of subjective life satisfaction. For women, no statistically significant differences were observed among women in high-level managerial positions, women who worked in non-high-level positions, and women who specialized in household production, with no market work. Only women who were unemployed reported lower levels of life satisfaction, compared with women in other labour-market statuses. Our results lend evidence to the contention that men can "have it all", but women must still choose between career and family in Germany. We argue that interventions need to address how the non-pecuniary rewards associated with high-level managerial and leadership positions can be increased for women. Such policies would also likely serve to mitigate the "pipeline" problem concerning the number of women who are available to move into high positions in the private sector.1

Lay Understanding of Happiness and the Experience of Well-Being: Are Some Conceptions of Happiness More Beneficial than Others?

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Does Women Well-being Matter for Demand and Development of Children?

“…Women and child development have been the great concern of the researchers. Different researchers studied various implications of women and human well-being (Chandra et al, 2009;Blanchflower & Oswald, 2008;D'Acci, 2011;Davidson et al, 2011;Trzcinski & Holst, 2012;Doepke & Tertilt, 2014;Stillman et al, 2015;). Moreover, in existing literature most of the researchers studied the contribution of women in economic growth and economic development (Such as, Lincove, 2008;Fatima & Sultana, 2009;Klasen & Lamanna, 2009;De la Croix & Donckt, 2010;Fatima, 2011;Chaudhary et al, 2012;Rodenberg & Pahle, 2012;Duflo, 2012;Rees & Riezman, 2012;Tsani et al, 2012;Ekesionye & Okolo, 2012;Mujahid & Zafar, 2012;Mukherjee & Mukhopadhyay, 2013;Fernandez, 2014;Doepke & Tertlt, 2014;Xu, 2015;Khayria & Feki, 2015).…”

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