Happiness, life satisfaction, and gender equality at the micro and macro levels

Abstract

This study uses the Gender Inequality Index (GII) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to examine the impacts of gender equality or inequality upon happiness and life satisfaction. It also explores the impact of selected demographic predictors (gender, educational level, and income) and individuals’ attitudes toward gender egalitarian ideals on these two components of well-being in gender equal and unequal countries. Partial proportional odds models are implemented to investigate happiness and life satisfaction levels of respondents in the 7th wave of World Values Survey (Haerpfer et al., 2022). The main findings are paradoxical; they show that increasing gender inequality at the macro level improves the likelihood for any person to be both very unhappy and very happy, and the pattern is the same for life satisfaction. People with gender egalitarian ideals who live in gender-equal countries have an increased likelihood of being very unhappy and the tendency to report being at a higher level of happiness than unhappy. In gender unequal countries, it improves the likelihood to be at higher levels of happiness than very unhappy but also the tendency of being happy or at a lower level. Increasing gender egalitarianism improves the likelihood to be more satisfied with life, especially in unequal contexts. While the impact of demographic components on happiness and life satisfaction does not vary in gender equal and unequal countries, gender egalitarianism demonstrates diversified patterns of happiness. Further studies need to focus on the dynamics between micro and macro-level gender egalitarianism, and their individual and combined impact on different markers of well-being. © 2022 Journal of International Women’s Studies.