How Higher Intra-household Status Differentially Affects Job Satisfaction for Women

We posit that attaining higher intra-household status, i.e., headship reduces job satisfaction among married women. The proposition draws upon the social role theory and own gender referent hypothesis to explain the reason for dissatisfaction with the job. We find that this adverse effect becomes insignificant after 3-5 years from the time of becoming head. For the empirical evidence, we run two studies. In Study 1 (N=15,890) we use a cross-sectional survey of married women who are in full-time jobs in the US and find that job satisfaction decreases when they become household heads. Study 2 (N=79,422) supports the result using a longitudinal survey in the UK. Since for the longitudinal survey, the same individuals were interviewed over the years, we could track job satisfaction in different years under different conditions. Using that data, we perform an event study analysis to test temporal persistence of the negative effect on job satisfaction after becoming the head. We find that this negative effect dissipates after 3-5 years from the time of becoming head. While previous works recognized factors within the organization affecting job satisfaction, the current study suggests that household-level conditions can also shape women’s attitude toward work