Average levels of job satisfaction among women workers has been falling for 15 years, despite greater equality in the workplace and flexible working laws.
Research based on about 25,000 British women employees shows that women workers used to have significantly higher levels of job satisfaction than men in the UK, but now they have almost the same level as male workers.
Men’s job satisfaction has remained constant over the period.
The results seem to be a sign of growing pressures on women in the workplace, as women compete increasingly with men for better jobs, the study suggests.
Some commentators argue that women doing such jobs feel increasingly stressed at work, suffering a serious drop in general sense of well-being.
Professor Mike Rose, from the University of Bath, who carried out the research for the Economic and Social Research Council, rejected that explanation: “There is no sign of a general fall in psychological well-being among women employees since 1990.
“We have excellent data there, and they show absolutely no change over the period. In fact, our special measures of general happiness show a slight upward trend.”
The study shows satisfaction among women, who work part-time, has fallen more dramatically than among the full-timers.
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