The US is ‘absolutely’ ready for a female president, thinks Kamala Harris. Male voters are less sure. But they have little reason to fear gender equality.
American girls are just as highly educated as boys, but does this imply that all societal roles should be open for men and women alike? Vice-presidential candidate J.D. Vance fears that the quest for equity makes women ‘miserable’. He stated that America “suppresses masculinity.” “Pursuing racial or gender equity is like the value system that gives … life meaning … [but] they all find that that value system leads to misery”. Former president Donald Trump voiced a similar sentiment: “[I will] “promote positive education about the nuclear family, the roles of mothers and fathers and celebrating, rather than erasing, the things that make men and women different.”
Discrimination of men?
Harris is less outspoken on gender equality, but as a woman of color she embodies the trend away from patriarchy and towards equality. The world seems hesitant is this is a good idea. Religious groups are spending billions to counter gender equality education. Worldwide over 1.1 billion women and girls live in countries in which gender equality stagnated or declined. Males form young generations in 31 countries tend to believe that gender equality discriminates against men. Provocateur Elon Musk shared a message that women lack the physical strength and courage to think independently. It would be better to abolish women’s suffrage.
Data on happiness
The World Database of Happiness (WDH) aims to provide the facts that can help to settle these kind of discussions. Politicians who want to contribute to the greatest happiness for the greatest number can check in the WDH if – for example – gender equality is related to the happiness of citizens. Citizens turn out to be happier in countries with more gender equality. The figure below uses pre-Covid average happiness in 85 countries and the latest gender equality data from the World Economic Forum.
Figure 1. Gender equality and happiness in 85 countries
The positive relationship between gender equality and happiness cannot be entirely attributed to women’s emancipation. Freedom of choice has grown in general. Women can choose skirts or trousers, adopt the role of housewife or a career as childless ‘cat lady’, decide whether they want to live with a man, woman or alone and whether or not they want to have children.
Men profit most form gender equality
Men are not the victims of this trend. Men are happier in countries in which more women work. The alpha males who feel insufficient space to develop themselves due to ‘woke’ and ‘gender equality’ can wonder whether Mary Trump’s book – indeed the niece of – ‘Too much and never enough‘ also has a message for them. Reversing gender equality will not make citizens happier on average.
A mixed picture for women
The picture is more mixed for women. The progress in happiness in recent decades appears to be smaller for highly educated women. Housewives are slightly happier than working women. Part-time working women are slightly happier than full-time workers. Gender equality offers more options to women, but it is difficult to see that this has increased female happiness, because women who are fully committed to a career are not always the happiest.
Greater happiness for all
The problem with the pursuit of gender equality is therefore not the alleged victimization of men, but rather that women have not yet benefited sufficiently from it. Perhaps feminists are right that the pursuit of equality is incomplete as long as the burden of care remains unequally distributed. So Kamala Harris, if you manage to break another glass ceiling, celebrate it not in as a triumphant completion of the long road to greater equality, but as a new start to make gender equality contribute as much to women’s happiness as to that of men.
This article is a translation of a paper that appeared in Dutch on the website sociale vraagstukken.
Ad Bergsma is a Dutch psychologist and happiness researcher.
Ruut Veenhoven is a Dutch sociologist and emeritus professor of social conditions for human happiness. Currently he works at the Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Erasmus Happiness Economics Research Organization EHERO in The Netherlands.