In the 97th episode of the podcast “No Stupid Questions“, hosts Angela Duckworth & Stephen Dubner examine the “female happiness paradox”, i.e. that women on average indicate lower general happiness than men.
What I found particularly insightful are the potential reasons proposed, with differences in society and subconscious pressures still being very prevalent.
Same happiness in kids
Especially interesting seems that as children, boys and girls exhibit roughly the same happiness levels. However, this changes once they get into puberty. Then, interests and worries diverge. Women tend to become significantly more anxious about their looks than men. This may be founded in a evolutionary argument that women are judged (by men) based on their attractiveness (indicative of DNA to be passed on to the next generation) whereas men are judged (by women) based on their capability to protect, provide, and be an alpha.
Values of society
An open-ended survey by the PEW Research Centre “asked candidates to name the traits or characteristics that they believe society values most in men and women”.
| Men | Women | |
| 1 | Honesty & morality | Physical attractiveness |
| 2 | Professional & financial success | Empathy / nurturing / kindness |
| 3 | Ambition & leadership | Intelligence |
| 4 | Strength & toughness | Honesty & morality |
| 5 | Hard work & tough work | Ambition / leadership |
Furthermore, the still uneven distribution of childcare and household tasks between men and women (as reinforced by the pandemic) might be another factor. Put together, I can highly recommend the episode for some insights into a highly relevant societal topic.
Or on Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/no-stupid-questions/id1510056899?i=1000559232799
Find the sources from the podcast here.